ABSTRACT
The three key factors in diabetes control are diet, insulin and exercise[1]. Patients with diabetes are also at greater risk of developing obesity, cardiovascular disease and low physical self esteem; all of which may be improved with regular exercise. The benefits of a physically active lifestyle for children and adolescents have been internationally promoted[2]. Exercise disturbs normal body homeostasis and the problem for children with IDDM is the recognition of symptoms of hyper or hypoglycaemia during or after exercise. Many parents express concern about their children taking part in vigorous physical activity especially when the activity is unsupervised[3]. These concerns seem well founded when 16% of children and adolescents reported hypoglycaemia after vigorous exercise or play[4]. Moreover, other investigators have reported that the majority of adolescents are not proficient at estimating their blood glucose (EBG) and that the relationship between estimated and actual blood glucose (ABG) is idiosyncratic[5, 6]. There are a number of symptoms related to hyper or hypoglycaemia, such as hunger, pounding heart and sweaty palms that may be confused with the normal physiological responses to exercise. Rowland[7] has suggested that patients with IDDM who exercise often confuse the feeling of fatigue with hypoglycaemia, and that children in particular underestimate their blood glucose levels during exercise.
