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Comment by mrzimmerman | Hacker News Reader

"Walking good, sitting bad."

But seriously, I think this sort of adds to the pile of evidence that even small amounts of exercise on a regular basis has marked health impacts.

I'm a Type 1 diabetic so I have the benefit of a sensor that continuously tells me my blood glucose, so I can see the difference between when I'm walking on a daily basis to and from the office, and when I'm working from home. Same breakfast, very different blood glucose averages on those days.

It is worth noting that exercise of almost any kind causes my insulin to potentiate, so that is part of why my glucose levels are lower. But I wouldn't be surprised to hear that my over all insulin sensitivity is higher on walking days (as I gather from this study) which helps to drive my lower glucose numbers.

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What kind of sensor do you have ? I am not diabetic but I'd like to monitor my sugar level somehow.

I think they all need to break your skin in order to test. I'm not aware of any continuous monitors that don't need some blood to work. I anyone is I would be interested.

Here's one https://provider.dexcom.com/education-research/cgm-education...

Also an interesting article about people hacking together their own artificial pancreas https://medium.com/neodotlife/dana-lewis-open-aps-hack-artif...

The most popular ones are the Dexcom sensors and then the Freestyle Libre. Unfortunately you need a prescription for both in the US. Otherwise, if you'd like to monitor your blood sugar, you'll have to do it via a blood glucose meter and just space out your testing. You can buy those over the counter at any pharmacy/superstore and they're relatively cheap.

If you end up buying a blood glucose meter, the best way to get a good idea of your blood sugar movement in your body (if there is any) would be testing at several times throughout the day after specific events (like eating and/or exercising). Waking up (for fasting glucose), pre-meal (to get a baseline), post-meal several times (15 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours). I would also experiment with how it reacts to different types of food and beverages. For example, try drinking a glass of orange juice and testing 5-15 minutes after. Some non-diabetics still experience very small blood sugar spikes from liquid carb sources.

If you're only mildly curious and don't wish to invest much then you might consider urine test strips. Very cheap, but the reading is also very vague also. However, they will let you know if you have a problem or not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine_test_strip

Thanks, it looks like the urine test strips and diabetes test strips is the only affordable way at the moment.

I use the Medtronic Guardian Plus because it ties into my insulin pump which then regulates how much background insulin to give me. Dexcom, as mentioned in another comment, is a standalone sensor that doesn't tie directly into a pump.

All sensors that I know of are invasive though, so they have to be replaced every 7-10 days, which requires a needle and other things to cover it.

You could also just buy a glucometer (though you'd need a prescription for the test strips, at least in the US) than test once or twice a day and keep a log.

>>you'd need a prescription for the test strips

I've bought them on Amazon before, no prescription required. This is to monitor blood sugar right?

To be covered by health insurance, glucometer testing strips have to be prescribed.

Sounds like a great combination of devices. How does your HbA1c compare on your current regimen? Do you also self-monitor, and if you do, have you tested your post-exercise levels? I have a number of patients who would benefit greatly from this setup. Thank you for sharing.

> I use the Medtronic Guardian Plus because it ties into my insulin pump which then regulates how much background insulin to give me.

Oh, so we are finally over that hurdle. Last time I checked there were some liability concerns that prevented manufacturers from closing the loop – the user had to input the numbers.

Thanks, I'll look into glucometer strips (in Europe).

This machinery is quite finely tuned to an existence that involves a lot of walking, running, jumping, lifting, etc. Deviations from the active lifestyle are obviously going to have negative impacts of various kinds.

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