An Aerobic Cooldown After Morning, Fasted Resistance Exercise Has Limited Impact on Post-exercise Hyperglycemia in Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: A Randomized Crossover Study

Abstract

Objectives

Expert guidelines recommend an aerobic cooldown to lower blood glucose for the management of post-exercise hyperglycemia. This strategy has never been empirically tested. Our aim in this study was to compare the glycemic effects of performing an aerobic cooldown vs not performing a cooldown after a fasted resistance exercise session. We hypothesized that the cooldown would lower blood glucose in the 30 minutes after exercise and would result in less time in hyperglycemia in the 6 hours after exercise.

Methods

Participants completed 2 identical resistance exercise sessions. One was followed by a low-intensity (30% of peak oxygen consumption) 10-minute cycle ergometer cooldown, and the other was followed by 10 minutes of sitting. We compared the changes in capillary glucose concentration during these sessions and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) outcomes over 24 hours post-exercise.

Results

Sixteen participants completed the trial. Capillary glucose was similar between conditions at the start of exercise (p=0.07). Capillary glucose concentration decreased by 0.6±1.0 mmol/L during the 10-minute cooldown, but it increased by 0.7±1.3 mmol/L during the same time in the no-cooldown condition. The resulting difference in glucose trajectory led to a significant interaction (p=0.02), with no effect from treatment (p=0.7). Capillary glucose values at the end of recovery were similar between conditions (p>0.05). There were no significant differences in CGM outcomes.

Conclusions

An aerobic cooldown reduces glucose concentration in the post-exercise period, but the small and brief nature of this reduction makes this strategy unlikely to be an effective treatment for hyperglycemia occurring after fasted exercise.