Physical Activity & Health – Unit Leader Dr Liam Harper
Laboratory Practical Session Protocol – Effects of Exercise on Blood Glucose Uptake and Release
Background
During this unit, you have seen how physical exercise impact many biological systems and processes,
thereby having many benefits for health. One of these effects involve blood glucose regulation. In the
next two sessions, you will conduct a research activity that will show how exercise affects blood
glucose. This will be done by comparing the time course of blood glucose over 60 minutes after
ingesting glucose with or without exercise.
You will be divided into groups of 3-4 students, with one of you volunteering to undertake physical
exercise following the ingestion of a fluid containing 50g of glucose (50 g of powder glucose suitable
for human consumption was diluted in 300 ml of tap water – this has been prepared by your tutors
and lab technicians). Small blood samples will be collected from the fingertips for glucose
measurement, as per the instructions below.
In the first session, some of you will exercise after ingesting the glucose solution, whereas others will
not.
In the second session, we will swap over the exercise/no-exercise conditions. Those who exercised in
the 1st session will not exercise in the 2nd, whereas those who did not exercise in the 1st will do exercise
in the 2nd.
Please remind that participation in this protocol is voluntary. Before participating, please sign the
consent provided by your tutors.
Important notes:
 do not partake in this protocol if you have diabetes, take insulin or any
type of hypoglycaemic medication
 do not partake in this protocol if you are fasting and had no food today
 do not partake in this protocol if you have any underlying condition that
may prevent you from exercising
Protocol
1. Only one of your group will undertake the protocol. The other students will be responsible for
collecting data. Before starting the protocol, talk to members of your group to decide who will
be participating. If no one wants to volunteer, please rearrange group members with other
groups in the class.
2. Take a resting/baseline blood sample and measure blood glucose concentration, as shown by
the tutor.
3. Ask the participant to drink the fluid containing glucose and turn on the stopwatch
4. Ask the participant to start the exercise (cycle at 50W continuously for 45 min)
5. Take additional blood samples and determine blood glucose concentrations at the following
time points:
a. 15 min following ingestion
b. 30 min following ingestion
c. 45 min following ingestion (ask the participant to stop exercise here)
d. 60 min following ingestion
6. When you finish the exercise, drink a can of coke provided.
Note: if you feel dizzy, lightheaded, cold sweat or if you notice that your
participant is become pale, stop the exercise immediately, lay down and drink
a can of coke provided.
Fill in the table below with your data:
Day 1: With / Without exercise (circulate where appropriate)
Glucose
Baseline
15 min
30 min
45 min
60 min
45 min
60 min
mmol/L
mg/dL
Day 2: With / Without exercise (circulate where appropriate)
Glucose
mmol/L
mg/dL
Baseline
15 min
30 min