THE EFFECT OF CONTINUOUS VIGOROUS EXERCISE AND LIFESTYLE-EMBEDDED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY UPON ACUTE GLYCAEMIC REGULATION- A CASE STUDY

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of continuous exercise and lifestyle-embedded physical activity upon glucose regulation, and assess the feasibility of seven day continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in a normoglycaemic individual. One physically active non-diabetic male [age: 22 y; mass: 71.5 kg; height: 181 cm] underwent 7 days CGM, performing 3 trial conditions: a sedentary control (< 2500 steps, pedometer controlled), a continuous exercise condition (2 x 30 min treadmill running at 70% HRmax), and a lifestyleembedded physical activity condition (100 min fractionalized moderate activity). Diet was standardised andphysical activity levels were monitored via accelerometry throughout. Results showed a significant difference of -0.24 mmol.dL-1 in twenty-four hour mean glucose levels between the sedentary and continuous condition (p = 0.00), and a significant difference of -0.038 mmol.L-1 in twenty-four hour mean glucose levels between thesedentary and lifestyle embedded physical activity condition (p = 0.004). Descriptive results displayed a post exercise decrease in glucose levels (2 h pre-6 h post (5.3 – 5.1 mmol.L-1)) with a carryover effect for the following day (reduced mean glucose 24 h pre-post (5.5 ± 0.5 - 5.2 ± 0.3 mmol.L-1)) in the continuous exercisecondition. Physical activity counts (c.min-1) during exercise were significantly related to blood glucose levels in the continuous exercise condition (r = 0.51, p = 0.08). Findings show that intra- and inter-day glucose homeostasis may be optimised through bouts of continuous vigorous exercise