#31 - Diabetes and the risks of a hot weather workout
Let me start by explaining I’m not medical trained in any way. But I have professionals around me informing me about my illness and how to work on the diabetes in a way I can keep doing.
With diabetes comes an unbalance in the blood glucose levels. Most commonly it’s too high. Put simple, the way to treat besides medication, is burning as much sugar as possible, and making sure you don’t take too much sugar in. Now that often comes with an unbalance in other things you actually need. In my case, the most important item I am often in need of, is protein. Not because I don’t eat enough of the stuff, but actually because I need much more for the level of workouts I do. Protein is the building block for muscles. And since I’m performing on levels that are pretty demanding, I need to make sure the intake supports this.
But more important with the high temperatures we have here in Europe for the past days, is the balance of liquids. A healthy intake of water usually helps with keeping the bloodsugar low. Since the body tries to evacuate any surplus of glucose through urine, a diabetic will often urinate more. Thus lowering the bodily fluids, needing a higher intake. Now we all know that in hot weather, our body regulates its internal temperature by sweating. This will lower the volume of liquids even more, actually raising the concentration of whatever is dissolved in it. This is the process behind the spikes in blood glucose levels during warm days. Since I tend to sweat noticeably more when I have a higher blood glucose level, this process reinforces itself.
Knowing all this, you will probably understand drinking is of the utmost importance. Any given day, I drink about 1 liter of coffee - I know… but that’s something to work on later - and at least 2 liters of tap water with lemon or lime juice in it. Over the past few days, I have had days where I drank up to 4 liters of water not including the coffee or my high-protein chocolate milk. And that’s without any workout. If I would go for a ride in this weather, I feel I should add 1 or 2 liters of isotonic drinks, just to compensate for the sweating and loss of salt and minerals. That would bring the grand total at least at 5 liters a day… And then there’s the effect the warm
temperatures would have on the rest of my body. I’ve never been one to thrive in any kind of weather above 25 C, and once Mother Nature offers me a crispy 30 C… Let’s just say the b*tch wouldn’t be invited to any party I would throw soon. Yesterday, temperatures rose to a very uncomfortable 38-39 C, depending on the source. In any case, I feel I can now comfortably tell you about the feelings a nice steak has, while being grilled to perfection on an open fire grill.
The reason why this has such a profound effect on my body, is the humidity. While I can stand high temperatures in for example the south of Europe, I can’t in Belgium. I was in Portugal, Spain, Italy and southern France on many occasions, and one mishap with an airconditioner on full power all night, where I entered a 40 degree hallway after a whole night in 18 C knocking me out for the rest of the day, I never had much of a problem navigating life in those temperatures. And the explanation is very simple: humidity. It’s just much lower in southern Europe on average. Here in Belgium, any heat feels really humid. Especially in conditions like today. The weather system we are in these days, is called a heath dome. Any heath and humidity that is around, will stay around for as long as the dome doesn’t dissolve. Visualize it as a glass lid over a pan on the stove. You will see the liquids condense on the inner surface. They stay in the pan, while temperatures keep going up. And that humid heat, only makes me sweat more, making my issues even bigger of course. Luckily, the forecast shows there’s much cooler temperatures coming at the end of the week making life a bit easier again.
Fighting my diabetes makes me think about issues like this. And it’s the reason I make sure I’m pretty well informed about any issue I encounter along the way. Sharing this with you, can hopefully help you in your life, but again, don’t take anything I tell you as medical advice. Every body is different and you should seek treatment from educated professionals.
