Blood sugar spikes after exercise confuse many diabetics. The idea of exercise for many diabetics is it will burn blood sugar thereby aiding in reducing blood sugar levels. Often diabetics monitor their blood sugar before exercise and after exercise. The blood sugar after exercise is often higher than before exercise and this is a source of confusion to diabetics.

There are two main reasons for the blood sugar spikes after exercise. One reason is the body releases growth hormone during exercise. Growth hormone is an anabolic (growth stimulating) hormone that burns fat for energy rather than glucose. The work that growth hormone does in the body is accomplished by the burning of fat and this is why blood sugar levels do not drop from exercise; blood sugar is not being burned as the primary source of energy for growth hormone. After growth hormone is used up in the anabolic processes, blood sugar will return to normal. In the meantime type II diabetics want to burn fat. Stimulating growth hormone by exercising leads to burning fat. This is what a type II diabetic wants. Stimulating growth hormone also leads to building muscle (see article "Exercise for type I and type II") and muscle improves metabolism versus fat. This is of benefit to type I and type II diabetics.

A second reason for blood sugar spikes is exercise stresses the body. This stress results in the body adapting to the changes exercise is forcing, such as the need to increase blood volume, the need for the heart to work harder, the need for increased respiration, and other such adaptations to exercise. The liver is an organ that stores about 20% of the glycogen (sugar) of the body. When the body is stressed, such as in exercise, the liver releases its sugar into the bloodstream. This additional sugar can raise blood sugar levels. Sugar released from the liver due to stress will eventually diminish and blood sugar levels will start to drop several hours after exercise.

Furthermore, a diabetic might consider reducing carbohydrates at nighttime and adding multi-fiber (the body uses many different fibers, so a multi-fiber might be more beneficial than only one type of fiber) supplements to evening meals. This might gradually reduce sugar readings in the morning. Read the articles on this web site about fiber.

In conclusion, release of growth hormone and glycogen from the liver can result in blood sugar spikes. After several hours the blood sugar levels will drop to normal for the diabetic if the growth hormone and sugar released from the liver are what caused the blood sugar spike. Therefore the point of this article is for diabetics to realize that often blood sugar spikes are normal after exercise. If the blood sugar returns to normal the diabetic should not stress himself over these spikes. Stress is not good for diabetics and there are many articles on this web site describing the negative aspects of stress in diabetes.

Note - Milder exercise may decrease glycogen release and blood sugar fluctuations. Less stress may decrease blood sugar spikes after exercising. For example, a mild walk might not be too stressful.


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Page Last Modified: 04FEB02