Living Free with Adult Onset Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease that requires an agile mind and a good memory. Diabetics need to be able to count carbs, manage insulin therapy, choose what to eat, incorporate and manage exercise with insulin therapy, and analyze data to determine effective strategy’s to meet blood sugar management goals. We know that physical exercise is important to maintaining good health but mental exercise may be just as important especially as we grow older and desire to remain independent.

Recent studies concerning dementia and brain plasticity show that we can take action to effect our mental outcomes just as we do for our physical outcomes. The Nun’s Study followed the lives of 700 nuns living in a cloistered environment into old age and death. This study concluded that those who had better educations, participated in lifelong study, and remained mentally vigorous had a substantially reduced circumstance of dementia then those who did not. Study of the brain after death showed the same amount of physical brain deterioration in those who showed symptoms of dementia and those who did not. Other factors such as diet and exercise were also important.

The study of brain plasticity shows that the brain has the ability to change and develop to support new learning, maximize existing function, and to compensate for lost function. Brain activity associated with a given activity can move to a different location in the brain as a result of focus and training. So those nun’s that remain mentally and socially active through out their lives used the brain’s plasticity to maintain mental alertness and combat the physical deterioration in the brain over time.

Recently if found myself having trouble remembering if I had taken a insulin shot. I use a pen so the delivery process is like slam, bam, it’s done but I do it often, it’s repetitive and I would forget. I started logging my shots and that helped but sometimes I would forget to do that. I use to have a memory like a steel trap, now it was more like a steel sieve. I started looking for ways to exercise my brain and found Scientific Brain Games by Lumosity.

I’ve been working these exercises for about two weeks and I see positive results already. My memory is better, processing is tighter, and my attention is more focussed. After an exercise session I feel like I have been in a mental workout. The exercises target mental activities associated with memory, attention, and computation skills under pressure. They are progressive in that they become more difficult as you improve. I do the exercises first thing in the morning when I sit down to work at my computer. They take about twenty minutes and my mind is energized and ready for work.

The lesson here is Use it or Lose it folks. A mental workout is just as important as a physical workout. In fact they complement each other. Check it out at the link below and let me know what you think. Try the scientific brain training program by Lumosity. It’s fun and it improves memory and attention. Get started for free.

A diagnosis of diabetes is a major inducer of stress. It requires adapting a new life style involving a complex system of dietary and medical processes, which produce both physical and psychological stress. Going forward controlling diabetes is difficult. You have to worry about so many different things: your blood sugar, giving yourself insulin, what, when, and how much you eat, exercise, taking care of your feet,

not to mention occasionally waking up in the Emergency Room after a low blood sugar incident. “Stress makes diabetes worse even if you are doing everything you can to manage it. That’s why a person with diabetes must recognize and manage stress to control the disease”, says Richard S. Surwit, PhD, vice chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and chief of the division of medical psychology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

How Stress Effects Diabetes

Stress  activates the “fight or flight” response in the body which results in the release of adrenaline and cortisol into the body. These hormones increase blood sugar giving the body the energy to respond to the “fight or flight situation. “In diabetes, your blood sugar just stays up unless you increase your medication,” Surwit says. He has studied the impact of stress on diabetes for 20 years and wrote a book called “The Mind-Body Diabetes Revolution.”

Our Fast paced lives today include many long-term stresses with no clear short-term resolution. This could included include psychological stress like a job situation, a relationship, or it could be physical stress like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure. Consequently you may be running on the fight or flight reaction longer then nature intended. What’s good for the body in a short-term crisis can be very harmful over long periods of time. Surwit’s research shows people with diabetes who use stress management techniques as part of their treatment can significantly reduce their average blood sugar levels. The effect in many cases can be just as effective as some diabetes-control medications.

Recognizing when you are stressed and what’s upsetting you is the first step to managing stress. We need a certain level of stress in our lives to be effective. It’s like the string on a guitar. If the string is too loose the sound is not pure, if it’s too tight it may break, strung just right we make beautiful music. Developing a Conscious Breathing practice can go a long way to helping us control our reaction to stress.

How Conscious Breathing helps us manage Stress?

Bringing the unconscious breathing process to the forefront of consciousness can give us a tool to help manage the stress of everyday life. There is a breathing rhythm associated with all the physical and psychological states of the body and mind. The breath is a bridge between the mind, the body, and the spirit. There is a breath for passion, a breath for anger, a breath for fear, a breath for joy, and a breath for sorrow.

Developing a conscious breathing practice to manage our reactions to external stresses can go a long way to improving our blood-sugar control thus affecting our health, our relationships, bringing peace of mind and - perhaps - a longer, healthier life. We may not be able to control external stressful events but we can learn to control our reaction to them.

What are the benefits of Conscious Breathing?

We can practice conscious breathing techniques anywhere. At our desks, on a train, or driving a car. We always breathe. Practicing conscious breathing can improve your physical response to stress by:

·        Better blood-sugar control

·        Slowing your heart rate

·        Lowering blood pressure

·        Increasing oxygen flow

·        Increasing blood flow to major muscles

·        reducing muscle tension

How do I learn Conscious Breathing?

Conscious breathing is a tool you can use to manage and control your reaction to stress in your daily life. Here’s a simple breathing exercise:

·        Sit or stand comfortably

·        Notice your breathing rhythm

·        Began long deep breathing expanding from the bottom of the lungs to the top.

·        continue for a few minutes with long deep breaths.

Conscious breathing is a natural, drug free way to relieve stress and reduce its effects on our lives. It’s also the gateway to meditation.

Additional resources, exercises and instruction can be found at  www.ibreathe-in.com

Recently I read an article discussing two studies in the British Medical Journal that concluded self testing for blood glucose levels actually lowered the quality of life for diabetes patients.Two groups of researchers report in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal that self-testing does not seem to offer any benefits, as far as health and cost-effectiveness are concerned, to non-insulin dependent diabetics. In fact the studies concluded self testing; promoted by many medical device manufactures as being the best way to control blood glucose levels; actually increased stress in diabetic patients. And we know that increased stress results in increased blood sugar.

When I saw this information I was surprised because self testing is an effective tool that I use to make my control much tighter, but I use insulin.
This study focussed on non-insulin dependent diabetics and from my own experience its conclusions are correct. Blood Glucose self testing was initially promoted as a way to more closely monitor blood sugar levels in diabetics who use insulin. It started before other treatment options were generally available. Combined with the new fast acting insulin and diet strategies based on Carb counting, self testing supports a system I use for closely managing blood sugar and insulin intake.

 When my test shows high blood sugar, I can do something about it immediately. Today many diabetics don’t use insulin, so they have real time knowledge with no real time tool to address the high blood sugar, leaving them feeling stressed and helpless. A friend called me yesterday, stressed out because his wake-up blood sugar tested at 350 and he didn’t know what to do. I would have taken an shot of short term insulin to bring myself back into balance, immediately reliving the pressure brought on by the information. He didn’t have that option so he went to work stressed out, feeling helpless and victimized.

It’s important to remember that the medical device companies are primarily motivated by profit, not by our well being. The money in self testing is in the test strips and it’s big money. I think they average at least $1 per test. It’s interesting to me that over the years the price for test strips has not gone down. It’s a cash cow for the medical device companies. They give away the meters because the money is in the test strips and promoting the strips to everyone with diabetes goes directly to their bottom line.

 Diabetics can derive real benefit from tests like A1C that give information about blood sugar levels over several months allowing them to make behavior changes, like diet or adding an exercise program to create more long term benefits. It’s also a lot cheaper.

If you are self testing for blood sugar and you don’t use insulin, it may be a good idea to question if it’s doing you any good. What benefit do you derive from the real time knowledge of your blood sugar level if there is nothing that you can do about it.?
Rich
“Tomorrow is Another Day!”

Self-Testing Blood Sugar Levels Lowers Quality Of Life In Diabetes?

American Diabetes Association - A1C

Welcome to Diabetes - Lifetips. My first post is about Stress; how it affects our efforts to control blood sugar. Stress is an inescapable component of our modern  lives. A certain amount of stress is necessary for us to perform at our best. It’s like a string on a guitar. Strung too tight the string may break, strung too loose it doesn’t produce a pure note, but strung just right it produces beautiful music. With too little stress, we never get off the couch, too much we get stressed out and don’t perform well; but with just the right amount of stress we make beautiful music. Learning techniques to manage stress is important because stress affects blood sugar. Check out the article at http://www.ibreathe-in.com/Stress_and_Diabetes.html for more information. I’d like to know your thoughts as well as techniques you use to manage stress.

Rich