We’re talking about having fun and keeping things fresh while keeping active this month. You can check out last week’s discussion about people’s favourite ways to keep active by clicking here!
This week’s Monday in Motion Q: What’s the most exhilarating sport or activity you’ve participated in (ex., bungee jumping)? And how did that affect your blood glucose levels?
Responses: So, let’s see… we’ve got:
- Skydiving: Alanna mentioned that she has done two jumps and didn’t notice any effect on her blood glucose levels. Siobhan has also gone skydiving as much and relayed the following: “I’ve skydived twice, and always gone a little bit high before hand. I left my pump on the ground both times, so took half a correction dose before (it’s less than an hour between getting on the plane to landing and getting your stuff back but I was still worried about a sudden drop). On both occasions I could have used the full correction amount as I didn’t come down much. Loved it :)” Andy noted that he too kept his blood glucose ulevels a little higher before his jumps, and kept a tube of glucose tabs in his jumpsuit just in case.
- Scuba diving: Chris said that her most exhilarating activity she’s participated in is scuba diving. She explained that at the time she was on MDI (multiple daily injections) and that she came up quite a bit lower than when she went it. Jordi shared a similar drop in blood glucose, explaining: “When I first went scuba diving I was pretty nervous about going low while 50 ft deep so i had a snack right before with no correction and halved my morning humalog (went down with sugar at about 13.0) came back up an hour later and it was about 8.0 which I was happy with!”
- Bungee jumping: Andy shared his experience bungee jumping. He said that he didn’t notice much change in his blood glucose, as the whole thing was over pretty quick. “You have about 30 seconds between getting excited when they attach you until you jump, and it’s over pretty quick.”
- Tough Mudder: Luke said he thought it would be hard to top his experience bungee jumping, but that running the Tough Mudder race the previous Saturday was actually much more awesome. He explained, “Mainly because of the people who where on my team. Scully, Ryan, and Becky. I had no idea what to expect so I took my pump off before starting. 6 hours later I put my pump back on and had a sugar of 31.6. Corrected and an hour later was 16.9. You wouldn’t think it, but being electrocuted is fun!”
- Hang gliding, rock and ice climbing, and cycling: Andy does a lot of exhilarating things! In addition to bungee jumping and sky diving, he mentioned all his other exciting activities and how they have impacted his blood glucose levels: “Hang gliding was a bit low inducing, but that was mostly because I was running to launch, and would then be pulling it back up the hill after I landed. Wind surfing has been another fun one that isn’t meter-friendly, and I would usually aim to be slightly high for that too. Lows on the water were treated with a tube of candy-gel stashed in my neoprene booties. Rock and ice climbing are similar in that you can’t easily check your sugar without a CGM [continuous glucose monitor], and because of harnesses and ropes, it’s difficult to find a place to securely stash anything. Cycling on or off road affects my sugars the most, but that’s mostly because it’s a long period of activity for me, usually several hours long, but it’s easy to stop at any moment and pull out a meter/CGM to check.”
Virtue’s Take: I’ve just got one word for all of you: diabadasses. I’ve never done anything so adventurous… but I’m so glad all of you are out there for advice if and when I decide to take the plunge!
