Diabetes Technology and Exercise

Physical activity is essential to maintaining good health for those living with type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, because of the difficulty of maintaining glucose control during exercise, many people with T1D choose to remain sedentary. New technologies are helping to make it easier for people to maintain optimal glucose levels during exercise. This paper looks at these new advances to assess their strengths and limitations. It shows that while these wearable sensors, glucose sensors, insulins, automated-insulin-delivery systems and other technologies are helping many people with diabetes to be more physically active (even at Olympic or professional levels), optimal use depends largely on the patient and/or family motivation, competence and adherence to daily diabetes care requirements. This means that while these devices are very exciting and continue to improve in terms of their accuracy and ability to support time-in-glycemic range, they still involve a lot of direction from the person using the device.