Staying active is an important part of living well with diabetes and plays a key role alongside healthy eating, medication, sleep and stress management.
Regular movement helps your body use insulin more effectively, supports steady blood glucose levels, and can improve overall physical and mental wellbeing.
Whether it’s a daily walk, structured exercise, or simply building more movement into your routine, being active offers benefits for every type of diabetes. Even small, achievable steps such as stretching, gentle cycling, or taking the stairs can make a meaningful difference.
As part of a balanced lifestyle that includes diet and nutrition guidance, support with travelling, and tips for staying active day‑to‑day, this section will help you understand how to move safely and confidently with diabetes.
Everyone’s starting point is different, but every bit of activity counts toward living well with diabetes.
Type 1 and 2
Type 1
Type 2
Resources in different languages
You may prefer resources in other languages:
Punjabi. https://youtu.be/qDGkadd3Toc
Hindi https://youtu.be/exAWdHUBUYk
Polish https://youtu.be/74nQyd6fj6Y
Somali https://youtu.be/HZEWHcTQsuY
Arabic https://youtu.be/7yRlX_UcjFs
https://pocketmedic.org/diabetes-community-language/arabic/
Bengali https://youtu.be/B3pdvvBIn88
Chinese https://youtu.be/7R4kvgH6X-o
African-Carribean https://youtu.be/k4qfwuc3Yhw
Urdu https://pocketmedic.org/diabetes-community-language/urdu/
Spanish https://pocketmedic.org/diabetes-community-language/spanish/
Advice during Ramadan:
There is support for people with diabetes during Ramadan. There may be some changes needed to your medication and testing during Ramadan and you healthcare team will help with this. The following links will take you to reliable information.
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about-diabetes/looking-after-diabetes/ramadan
This resource is available to order and download in English, Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati and Urdu to share with friends or family.
https://trenddiabetes.online/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/A5_Ramadan_TREND.pdf