Posted on behalf of Diabetes UK
Enjoying the sun is one of the things many people look forward to in the summer. But if you have diabetes, it can be harder to manage your blood glucose (sugar) levels in the hot weather.
How hot weather affects blood sugar levels
Sitting in the sun for long periods can affect your diabetes because you’re not being very active, making blood sugar levels higher than usual. On the flipside, if you take insulin to treat your diabetes it will be will be absorbed more quickly from the injection site in warm weather, and this increases the risk of hypos.
If you’re careful about managing your diabetes then there’s no reason you can’t have fun in the sun like anybody else, and Diabetes UK have created their top tips which include:
- Testing your blood sugar more regularly
- Ensuring insulin in stored properly, insulin that has been exposed to heat may became cloudy, grainy or be brown in colour, do not use insulin which looks like this
- Staying hydrated