Do you live with symptoms of health conditions?
Do you want to increase your activity?
If so, you’re in the right place.
Any increase in the amount you move is good for you and safe.
The benefits massively outweigh any risks.
It’s normal to worry that physical activity might affect your symptoms.
If you have any questions at all about doing physical activity, go to our website, speak to a fitness instructor or your medical team.
Start at a level that is comfortable for you, and build up gradually.
This helps your body adapt. Try and avoid a ‘boom and bust’ cycle.
If your symptoms get increasingly bad over the first few weeks of starting physical activity, speak to your medical team.
Physical activity is very beneficial for people living with heart disease.
If you have new chest pain and you haven’t already discussed it with your doctor, seek medical advice before beginning any activity.
Use your GTN spray or tablets when you need them, either during or after exercise.
Moving more reducing your overall risk of having heart attacks.
Your risk of having angina or a heart attack is always slightly higher during and immediately after exercise, that’s why its so important to start low and build gradually.
If you have had a heart attack or other heart event in the last 6 weeks, it is safest to exercise in a supervised environment like a rehabilitation service-your heart team or GP will be able to refer you.
Seek urgent medical help if your chest pain:
Physical activity is very beneficial for people living with diabetes.
Physical activity is very beneficial for people with non-insulin dependent diabetes.
If you are unsure about how to manage your diabetes when exercising, ask your medical team for help.
If you are unsure about how to manage your diabetes when exercising, ask your medical team for help.
Don’t exercise if you feel unwell, or have had a hypo episode that you needed help with in the last 24 hours.
Don’t exercise if you feel unwell, or have had a hypo episode that you needed help with in the last 24 hours.
Bring a sugary snack with you to your place of exercise and keep it visible for others to find if required.
Bring a sugary snack with you to your place of exercise and keep it visible for others to find if required.
Tell someone there (where you are exercising) about your diabetes, and where your sugar is.
Monitor your sugar levels before and after exercise, learn how your body reacts.
Blood sugar can go low during or after exercise – adjust your insulin accordingly.
Vigorous activity can make blood sugar levels go up, so be careful with your insulin and carbohydrate intake.
If you get specialist help for any complications of your diabetes including foot ulcers, eye disease or kidney disease, ask your medical team about types of activity that are safe and suitable for you.
Getting stronger and improving your balance reduces your risk of falling.
Seated or supervised exercise sessions are the safest ways to start.
Ask for help getting on or off any gym equipment if you’re worried.
Wear your visual and/or hearing aids and supports, if you have them.
Many people notice improvements in energy levels over time as they get stronger and fitter.
Don’t worry if you feel tired in the hours after doing physical activity, that’s really normal.
Many people feel less pain as they get stronger.
Don’t worry if it hurts a bit at first – you are not doing any more damage – your body is just adapting and getting stronger.
If your pain is so bad that you can’t move or if you get a new pain or swelling that doesn’t go away after rest, speak to your medical team.
It is normal to be more aware of your heartbeat when you do more physical activity.
If you get chest pain, dizziness, blurred vision, severe breathlessness or feel like you’re going to faint, seek immediate medical help.
Exercising makes you breathe more deeply and more frequently, which is good for your body.
Bring your inhalers and use them if you need to.
You will breathe harder when you exercise, but if that doesn’t go away after you’ve rested for a while, speak to your medical team.
Seek medical advice if you feel sudden uncontrollable breathlessness that doesn’t settle quickly when you stop moving, or have chest pain, palpitations or unusual leg swelling.
This site has been put together by specialists in exercise medicine and supported and funded by Nuffield Health Charity. In collaboration with academic experts, specialists in behavioural change, medics across a wide spectrum of specialties, physiotherapists, nurses and most importantly, people living with the symptoms of long term conditions. Through our rigorous academic process we have carefully ensured that all the information on this website is trustworthy and evidence based.
The following organisations have contributed to and endorsed the content of this website