Diabetes, Sports, and Exercise

Mr. Rick Philbin was diagnosed at 34 years old.  His biggest fear was that he would have to stop playing basketball, but instead has figured out how to make his exercise part of his treatment.  He believes that exercise should be a vital part of all our children’s lives, and as a matter of fact, ADA recommends that diabetics should exercise 7 days a week.

“Everyone is an athlete.  The only difference is that some of us are in training and some of us are not,”  said Rick Philbin at the Diabetes, Sports and Exercise seminar hosted by Camp Ho Mita Koda and JDRF.

Rick pointed out that when your child rides his/her bike around the block, or just runs around the yard, he/she is performing the same exercise as an athlete.  He also highly believes that if you want your kids to take interest in exercise, and continue with exercise in their adult lives, you have to do it with them when they are children.

Exercise is all about balance.  The four areas where diabetics constantly have to maintain a balance are food, blood sugar, hydration, and insulin.

Food:  Before a strenuous exercise program, ie. a game, diabetics need to start a bit higher than normal range, a good rule of thumb is 150, to avoid going low in a game.  A good rule of thumb, is to eat 2-3 hours before exercise is to start.

Blood Sugar:  Need to check blood sugar 1 hour before a game, and again, 30 minutes before, to get into a targeted range, and make sure you are covered for the start of the exercise, or game.

Hydration:  Dehydration can cause high blood sugars.  You need to drink lots of fluid to flush out any ketones, and to keep your blood sugar low.  If you wait until you are thirsty, you have waited too long.

Insulin:  Again, it is important that there is enough insulin on board, but not so much that you will become hypoglycemic. 

Diabetes is a highly individualized disease, and each person needs to tailor their program to their own bodies.  It is will take some trial and error, but the end result will of great benefit to each person, and will maximize their performance every time.

Exercise, especially the anxiety felt at games, will release adrenalin.  This adrenalin will in turn cause the liver to release glycogen.  This glycogen will need to be replaced 15 minutes after exercising.  A complex carbohydrate, such as a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread, is the ideal food to replace the glycogen.  If this glycogen is not replaced, it will be taken from the blood sugar, making the diabetic to experience hypoglycemia.  This will also hinder their performance the next day.

Mr. Philbin stressed the need to write everything down.  Keeping good records will help you determine patterns in your routine, and help you make any adjustments well in advance, making sure you stay at an optimal blood sugar level, and avoid hypoglycemic events.  Athletes probably need to eat every 4 hours.  They should also always know when their insulin is peaking, and when it is almost gone.  This, again, will give them the opportunity to keep their levels steady.  He talked about the 30% rule – meaning that 30% insulin is used every hour, leaving only the last 10% in your body for the last hour, with each dose of insulin lasting approximately 4 hours.

Some website he recommends that give more information on sports are as follows:
www.diabetesmine.om
www.diabetes_exercise.org
www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/sports

Some books he recommends are as follows:
Using Insulin
The Diabetic Athlete
Think like a Pancreas
Pumping Insulin
Diabetic Athlete Handbook
Smart Pumping

He talked about the many professional athletes who are an inspiration to all of our kids, and who manage their diabetes on and off the field with amazing results.  They will not let diabetes hinder their game, and we should encourage our kids to do the same.  Some of the athletes are:  Jay Cutler, Scott Verplank, Adam Morrison, Jay Lowenburg, Gary Hall, Jr., Chris Dudley, Will Cross, and many others.

A great big thank you goes out to Mr. Philbin for taking the time to speak to our group.  From the responses we received, it was a very worthwhile event, and so beneficial to all of us.