Why your blood sugar may rise after HIIT or heavy lifting

Exercise is often recommended to help manage blood sugar. So, it can be confusing to check your glucose after a workout and find that it has gone up instead of down. But a temporary rise in blood sugar after exercise does not necessarily mean the workout has done more harm than good. In fact, the type and intensity of exercise can play a major role in how the body responds. Speaking to indianexpress.com, Dt. Archana Batra, Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator, explains that exercise generally helps blood sugar because muscles use glucose for energy. However, during exercise, the body releases stress hormones such as adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol. "These hormones signal the liver to release stored glucose into the bloodstream to give energy for muscles.