Exercise

Here are some things to keep in mind for any type of exercise.

1. Exercise Impacts Your Glucose Levels

   Different activities will cause different effects on glucose levels, during or after the activity. You may need to make basal insulin adjustments, which will take some trial and error, to achieve a balance with your particular activities.

   
   

   Your insulin pump has two features that enable you to make immediate and flexible basal insulin adjustments to compensate for the effects of exercise on your blood glucose (BG) levels:

   
   

   • Temporary Basal Rates are used to increase or decrease the basal rate in half-hour increments from 30 minutes to 24 hours.

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   • Patterns can be used to modify the basal rates on exercise days once you know what basal rate works best with your activities.

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   Work with your healthcare provider to determine the basal rates and features that will work for your exercise routine.

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2. Disconnecting From Your Insulin Pump

   For some activities, you may choose to disconnect from your insulin pump. Read more about temporary disconnection guidelines.

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3. Water Activities

   
   

   Avoid Putting Your Pump in Water

   Although it is unlikely that water damage will occur if your pump is splashed or briefly dunked, you should avoid immersing your insulin pump in water.

   
   

   Swimming, Bathing, Showering or Participating in Other Water Activities

   Always disconnect from your pump and reconnect after you are out of the water. Many pump wearers use the quick release feature of their infusion set to easily disconnect from their insulin pump and tubing—leaving only the infusion site in place.

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4. Monitoring Your Exercise Goals with CareLink® Personal Software

   Uploading your device data into CareLink® Personal Software is a great way to work with your healthcare team to achieve your individual treatment and exercise goals. This free online tool provides insights into the effects of meals, insulin dosage, and lifestyle activities on your glucose levels.

   
   

   We provide the online course Exploring CareLink® Software and Reports, which you can take through our myLearning educational program.

   
   

   Note: You must have an online Medtronic account set up to access myLearning. If you already place supply orders online (or have a myHome account) the same username and password will work for myLearning.

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5. Exercise and Sports Resources

   The goal of the Diabetes Exercise & Sports Association (DESA) is to enhance the quality of life for people with diabetes through exercise and physical fitness.

   
   

   Fit4D provides an innovative coaching program that pairs you with a team of diabetes experts to address your unique healthcare, fitness, and nutritional needs.

Sleeping

Here are a few tips for sleeping with a Medtronic device.

1. Sleeping With an Insulin Pump

   • Clip it to the waist of your pajama pants

   • Clip it onto your pajama top or in a pocket

   • Place it next to you in the bed, under your pillow, or on the bedside table

2. Sleeping With a CGM Transmitter

   At less than 1/4 of an ounce and about the size of a quarter, you probably will not notice wearing the transmitter as you sleep. But you should think about which part of your body you lie on as you sleep. You don’t want to accidentally lie on the transmitter, as it may interrupt the RF signals being sent to your insulin pump.

You can visit Unique Accessories to check out boxers and nightshirts with built-in insulin pump pockets. Kangaroo Pump Pockets is another website you may want to explore.

Relationships and Intimacy

You should discuss your insulin pump openly with your partner. Most people prefer to disconnect from their insulin pump before intimacy by simply detaching from the infusion set at the site disconnect. Or, if you and your partner are comfortable with it, just keep your tubing and insulin pump connected. If you keep your insulin pump connected, you may want to use our longest tubing length (43") to allow you to place the pump well out of reach.

You can do anything with a pump that you can do with injections with the added advantage of more flexibility. Just remember that disconnecting for long periods of time can result in high glucose levels. So always be sure you reconnect the pump before going to sleep.

Find out about preparing for travel and flying.

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