Time in range is helping people with diabetes understand their glucose on a deeper level—and making their workouts a lot easier.
For those using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems, glucose time in range (TIR) is a metric that many people with diabetes are benefiting from. People with diabetes’ glucose levels can change from day to day—since time in range can help you analyze patterns, prepare for different parts of your life, and give yourself some grace, it’s an incredible tool that’s helping people feel less frustrated about exercising!
Here are some ways that Dr. Dessi Zaharieva, an Instructor, Certified Exercise Physiologist (CEP), and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) at Stanford University School of Medicine, suggests using time in range to feel your best while at the gym, during basketball practice, at the park, or wherever you get your workout in.
Analyze how current routines are working or need adjusting
Time gives a nice picture of day-to-day glycemic patterns around exercise. This can help you and your healthcare team identify what is going well and what may need adjusting.
Identify possible patterns
Over time, time in range patterns may begin to appear when looking at CGM data. For example, certain types of exercise could cause glucose levels to drop or rise—you can look at exercise days compared to sedentary days as a tool to highlight potential patterns or differences in time in range, that will then help you make adjustments to your exercise routine or other factors like medication, meal timing etc, if needed.
Be used as a guide for safe exercise
Reviewing glucose values and time in range can be a helpful way to determine safe starting values for exercise. For example, research has shown if glucose levels are between around 130-160 mg/dL for adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D), it’s generally safe to start exercise and minimize the risk of hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia.
Help to evaluate diabetes management strategies
Using CGM and time in range allows people to also monitor their levels during exercise and know when to ramp up, down or stop to maintain safe levels. People with diabetes can work with their healthcare team to evaluate whether adjustments in insulin, medication, meal timing, or exercise type/intensity/duration are needed. This can help people with diabetes feel empowered to start their exercise routines without so much stress around where their glucose is going. Knowledge = power!
Shared decision-making is vital
Your goals matter. What’s important to you is what you should be discussing during appointments with your healthcare team—whether it is to increase daily steps, build muscle, lose weight, or optimize performance for a specific sport, ensure that you’re communicating this with your healthcare team so that they can help you get there! You can use CGM data to make a plan and analyze results together.
Exercise and diabetes
Regular movement, physical activity, and exercise are essential for everyone. Exercise has numerous health benefits, including:
- increases in insulin sensitivity
- improvements in TIR
- reduced cardiovascular disease risk
- improvements in weight management and body composition
- strengthening muscles and bones (particularly in youth)
- supporting mental health and well-being
- improving overall cardiovascular health
- reducing the risk of long-term complications
- And more!
Whether it is type 1 diabetes (T1D), type 2 diabetes (T2D), pediatric or adult data, evidence suggests that acute (single sessions) or regular exercise lead to increases in time in range!
Read more about the data of how exercise can help glucose levels here.
Individualizing care is essential
One thing is certain—not every person with diabetes responds the same way to exercise.
Because of this, individualizing care for people with diabetes is important. Glucose responses to exercise vary widely, even within the same person. TIR can help reveal your unique patterns rather than over-generalizing across a whole population. Factors such as baseline fitness, previous hypoglycemia, insulin on board, exercise type, intensity, and duration can all lead to variability in overall glucose responses.
Time in range gives you and your healthcare team a clearer window into your unique glucose patterns by capturing how factors like baseline fitness, recent hypoglycemia, insulin on board, and exercise type may influence glucose responses during exercise. Adding this tool into your diabetes toolbox can help make exercising less stressful and allow you to enjoy those post-workout endorphins!
Get started with time in range today.