Category: Health & Well Being

Resolutions Aren’t Meant For Once A Year…

Well, here it is, folks! The last day 0f 2024. As my day dwindles on, I’m found thinking back on the past year and the things I’ve experienced, the things I’ve accomplished and the things I’ve wished for. I’ve had some happy times, some less than happy times and times when I wondered what it was actually all about. For most people, the New Year holiday represents a new start, a fresh beginning and a time to make resolutions for a better year. For me, it’s just another Wednesday. And here’s why…

When New Year’s Day hits, it’s usually the time when most people decide on resolutions to change the overall tone of their lives. These resolutions come in many forms. While some of the most common ones include things like more exercise, dieting or cutting out vices like alcohol or gambling, some can be on the more wholesome side, like reading more books, spending more time outdoors or doing at least one new thing every week. While all of this is totally well and good, the statistical majority of people who enter into a New Year’s resolution will typically give up and/or falter in their resolution within a few months. If they last that long.

This begs the question: why bother? This failure is a known fact to most people and yet, most people will still start the New Year off with, “This year, I will…” While it may sound strange coming from me, being the guy who usually promotes having goals and achieving them, I can’t help but think that perhaps a single day of the year set out as a holiday is NOT the best time to be making commitments to something else. And one shouldn’t wait UNTIL New Year’s to make said commitment. I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve heard say things like “oh, I’ll cut down on sweets in the New Year,” or “I’ll start getting fit in January as my New Year’s resolution.”

There are a lot of reasons why people give up or quit their resolutions within a few months. One reason is that the holidays are probably the worst time for the year for people over-eating, drinking and lounging around watching Christmas movies and doing fuck all. It’s kind of hard to jump from that and go into a new diet or try to get yourself moving in any efficient way. Another reason, especially if your resolutions is fitness-oriented, is that it’s hard to hit the ground running in January, considering it’s usually followed by the coldest months of the year (at least here in Canada). The human body is at its lowest energy point and focusing solely on staying dry and warm. Sometimes, the drive to keep pushing physically just isn’t there.

Lastly, many people will drop their resolutions because they simply aren’t seeing results. The inherent problem with this is that fitness and health is an ongoing journey, not a destination. If your goal is to increase muscle or lose weight, it can take months or even years to achieve what you’re seeking. We live in a world of immediate gratification and most people don’t like to wait for things. So by March or April, people can become disillusioned with their goals and simply give up. Viewed through that lens, those folks should be grateful they don’t have Type-1 Diabetes; that shit never ends.

My point is, don’t wait until New Year’s to start improving upon yourself. Start today. The New Year is nothing. It’s not a “fresh” start. It isn’t the beginning of something new. It’s just another day. Simply another date on the calendar. Your life starts every day. THAT’s where your resolution begins. Not on a holiday, not as a special occasion but as a conscious decision to make the change. After all, life is like a book. We all know how the story begins and how it ends. It’s up to you how the chapters in between get written. Food for thought… Happy New Year. ☯️

Slow And Steady Wins The Race…

There is always plenty I can write about Diabetes care and even more so about how involved and complicated it can get to properly maintain one’s health and blood sugar levels. In fact, in over 5 years of blogging on the topic, I’ve never run out of subject matter to discuss (minus some occasional repetition). That’s pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. And I guess I am saying so. Might sound like bragging but it’s not; it’s merely intended to show just how complicated a condition Type-1 Diabetes actually is. Quite a change in what my parents believed in the 1980’s, which basically just included “don’t eat sugar” and take your one-a-day insulin injection.

I often wonder how differently my health would have progressed, had I known about things like carb counting, proper bolusing and an actual understanding of the different types of insulin and how they function within the body. I often get a lot of questions about what some of the hardest aspects of having Diabetes are and how I deal with them. Certainly there are quite a few. And I’ve written about most of them. But in recent years, I’ve come to recognize that one of the hardest aspects of having Type-1 Diabetes is not, in and of itself, a symptom but rather, something I need to DO. The hardest part of being Diabetic is being patient. Yes, you read that right; patience is one of the hardest parts of dealing with anything Diabetes-related.

Let me explain. In my youth, when I would have low blood sugar, I would eat until I felt better. While this makes sense in concept, if I’m starting to feel better, it likely means my blood sugars have already reached a normal level and I’ve likely eaten beyond what was required. The result is that my blood sugar would skyrocket, requiring further insulin to bring it down to normal. This kind of rollercoaster blood sugars can be detrimental on one’s overall health and proper balancing of a1c’s. Nowadays, I actually measure my blood sugar to determine whether it’s low, rather than depend on a general feeling as I would have when I was younger. Given that getting older involves its own generalized pain, that only makes sense.

But when I find that my blood sugars are low, I take a finite amount of fast-acting carbs that are appropriate to bringing my blood sugar levels up to normal. Where the patience comes in, is the need to sit and wait while that finite amount of carbs does its job. This is particularly difficult when your blood sugar is low and you have to sit there and experience the symptoms of it for what will likely be twenty to thirty minutes. Let me walk you through it. I’m talking nausea, stomach cramps, disorientation, restless limbs, excessive and profuse sweating, blurred vision, loss of fine motor skill and a partridge in a fuckin’ pear tree. And that’s just to name a few. Don’t even get me started on how I feel if I get a low in tandem with anything else, like a cold or flu.

This required patience doesn’t just apply to lows. Sometimes recognizing that if I’m sitting a bit high, it may take a while, hours even, for my levels to come down smoothly. A sudden drop is never a good thing, even if you were high to start with. It can be extremely taxing on the system. The amount of fatigue I feel when I’m high and have to bring my blood down is substantial. If I don’t do it slowly and surely, it can sometimes put me down for the night. And when you live with two small sons who don’t grasp the concept of ever being quiet, getting the rest one needs to properly recover can be difficult.

That’s why it’s important to take one’s time with anything needed when it comes to Diabetes. Nothing can really be done quickly and even if there’s some that could, the after effects can be just as bad or worse than the symptom itself. It can be tough to wait something out, especially if it causes discomfort. But patience is key. After all, slow and steady wins the race. Especially where Diabetes is concerned. Food for thought… ☯️

What Pain Gives Gain?

I don’t think I have to explain how absolutely EVERYTHING affects a Type-1 Diabetic’s health. Blood sugar levels, blood pressure levels and other health factors are often affected by things like stress, physical activity, diet and alcohol consumption and even one’s state of mind. It can sometimes become a challenge for someone to maintain proper controls when something completely out of one’s control can affect everything. Like weather. If I do thirty minutes of heavy exercise in the comfort of my basement, no problem. If I do thirty minutes of work outside in cold, winter weather, my blood drops like fuckin’ stone in a clear lake. So given that everything affects blood sugar levels, what about pain? Could pain affect one’s blood sugars?

We should start the conversation by defining exactly what I mean by pain. Simply put, pain in today’s context is defined as the signal your body sends to your brain when trauma is caused to the body. And by trauma, I don’t mean the typical, modern definition that means having experienced something bad, although that could be included. trauma refers to the damage and/or blunt force exercised against tissue, causing damage. This can include cuts, abrasions, bruising, blunt force, burns and exposure to extreme cold. All of these things will trigger a signal from nerves to the brain, telling it that something bad is happening and that one should remove themselves from the situation. This is why people will automatically pull away from open flame or grip their arm if they suffer a cut, etc. Most of it is reflex and even those who train themselves to “fight through the pain” will have some difficulty in ignoring or overcoming the sensation.

So, how does pain play into blood sugars? I should start by clarifying that the idea started from a conversation I had with my ophthalmologist. During a recent appointment to get eye injections, (my eyes are doing great by the way. Thanks for asking!) I asked my doctor what the level would be, on a scale from 1 to 10, for me to receive the needles in my eyes without the numbing drops. He confirmed that it would likely be an 8 or 9. While he made it clear that he had never tried it or had it done on any of his patients, he working off his knowledge of pain and how it’s received by the body. He explained it would certainly be painful enough for a person to be unable to do it without the numbing drops. I was fascinated.

When I returned to my room, I realized that my blood sugar levels and increased. Not to a significant, uncontrollable level but enough to be noticeable. And it got me to ponder the question on how pain affects the blood sugars. In essence, pain is a stressor. And stressors DO affect blood sugars. While people don’t define stress quite in this way but pain causes stress and stress increases blood sugar levels. According to an article posted by the Mayo Clinic, “Physical or emotional stress triggers the release of hormones that can cause high blood sugar levels.” While the article is short and doesn’t specifically address physical pain, if we acknowledge that pain is a stressor and stressors will cause the release of hormones that will elevate blood sugars, the math does itself.

So this is mostly information and not so much a specific thing, but if you notice your blood sugar levels are running rampant and you can’t quite explain why, you may want to look at the stressors in your life, including pain. The pain that results from my eye injections is certainly something that will has an effect. Any other pain you may be suffering will also have an effect. While it may be difficult to gauge and treat your blood sugar levels based on this, it’s an important factor when considering your overall blood sugar management. Food for thought… ☯️

Expectations vs Reality

There are a lot of things that happen behind the scenes for someone with Type-1 Diabetes that the average person isn’t aware of. Much like seeing someone park in a handicap spot but yet walk with simple ease, an illness or disability isn’t always obvious to the naked eye. But without standing too high on my soapbox, my point is that there are a number of things that people tend to take for granted that almost seem like a rare treat to someone with Type-1 Diabetes. In this post, I’m going to examine the top ones that are important to me.

A Naked Shower
I should probably clarify that I’m naked for every shower that I take. This isn’t a high school changing room; I don’t shower in my clothes. That’s a story for another day. But what I mean is, having the ability to take a shower without needing to protect infusion sites or adhesive pads. Generally speaking, my insulin pump’s infusion sets are changed out every three days. This is because after three days, insulin begins to crystallize on the plastic based tubing and parts of the infusion set. This can result in an inaccurate delivery of insulin.

My continuous glucose monitor sensor gets changed out once a week. This is mainly because the interstitial fluid and the wound heals up enough that reading becomes difficult. In any event, with one of my cyborg parts replaced every three days and the other replaced every seven days, it’s usually an interesting challenge showering, since some of the adhesive patches will dry up and peel after a hot shower. The result is I usually have to maneuver and cover the injections sites and their coverings so that they get wet as little as possible. You ever try taking a normal shower while trying to keep any one area of your body dry? Not so easy…

Once in a while, an opportunity comes up where both insertions are due for replacement around roughly the same time. On those rare occasions, I get to take a nice, hot shower without any concern about protecting anything on the abdomen. I can effectively shower withy abandon, which one wouldn’t think is a big deal but when you can never do it, having the chance to just let the hot water wash over without concern is a definite treat that the average person takes for granted.

A Decent Night’s Sleep
First and foremost, I need to point out that proper sleep is always an issue for someone with Type-1 Diabetes, whether you wear a pump or not. Between fluctuating blood sugars, fluctuating blood pressure, circulatory issues that cause your arms and legs to go numb and restless as you sleep… The list goes on. Tack on my PTSD and the frequent repetitive nightmares and you’ve got a recipe for shitty nights. I have, on occasion, had the opportunity of sleep well throughout an entire night but these instances have almost always included some exterior assistance, like melatonin or a few fingers of whiskey.

Wearing an insulin pump presents its own unique set of challenges during sleep. While I always make a point to wear shorts or pyjama pants that have pockets, the pump will often slide out of the pocket during the night as I roll over. What’s worse is if I end up on TOP of the pump. This can be uncomfortable and even painful, especially if I roll over and the pump ends up in my tender bits. Y’all know what I’m referring to. Trying to remain perfectly still during sleep is effectively impossible, which means that under all circumstances, my pump will contribute to waking me up repeatedly throughout the night. So if you’re someone who gets a full night’s sleep, don’t take it for granted.

Eating With Abandon
Before the concept of pump technology and carb counting were brought to my attention, one of my favourite things was eating at a Chinese buffet. I’m one of those fuckers who loves the concept of the fried foods and flavoured sauces and dips that one can only enjoy through Asian cuisine. Nowadays, being mindful not only of what I eat but in what amounts can be challenging at best. Even when I read food labels and calculate based on the amount of carbohydrates they indicate, I hit some obstacles with lows, highs and miscalculations.

Eating out at a restaurant is usually the most challenging, because asking a server how grams of carbohydrates are in the meal you’re planning to order can be troublesome. While restaurant staff are generally expected to have some knowledge about the meals they serve, one must be realistic in just how deep that knowledge goes. It’s different if you’re having something defined, like a fast food burger, where you can usually check their website and get comprehensive nutritional information. But then when you incorporate something loose, like fries, rice or mashed potatoes, calculating the proper amount of carbohydrates and delivering the right amount of insulin is tough. What’s even tougher is if you estimate, then you can’t finish what you’ve bloused for.

Buffets are now an absolute waste of money for me, considering I can’t eat with abandon and have to moderate my portions and calculate insulin delivery. Even protein-based dishes are packed with carbohydrates at Asian buffets, considering everything is usually battered. While pumpkin therapy allows me to live easier with my meal choices (eating a slice of cake in my teens would have been completely out of the question), having the ability to eat whatever one wants whenever one wants without worrying about the consequences is definitively something any non-Diabetic shouldn’t take for granted.

SO, as you can see, there are many things that the average, every day person takes for granted that Type-1 Diabetics are dealing with behind the scenes. And this isn’t an all-inclusive list. People rarely see those aspects and simply assume that as long as we avoid sugar and take our insulin, the ship stays on course. Nothing could be farther from the truth. So if you have the ability to sleep properly, shower with abandon and relax and eat at your leisure, take the time to recognize how blessed you are. While I will always acknowledge that things could be much worse for me, all the little things y’all take for granted are often the things that any other person yearns for. Food for thought… ☯️

The Unbalanced Scales of Retail…

It starts out as pretty much the way every shopping errand does… I slowly walk the aisles, scanning for items I need and watching the items I could potentially want. With a significant number of ongoing and increasing shopping concerns, such as inflation and grocery affordability, the “wants” usually go untouched. But for the most part, the “needs” make their way into my basket as I slowly shuffle along. In the interest of navigating the public, a pair of noise-cancelling headphones with some soft, meditative music sit atop my head. While cursed with an unfortunate contestant state of hyper-vigilance, the noise blocking gives my PTSD-riddled brain a much needed respite from the public as I do I what I have to do.

I guess I should clarify that, despite my loud, outgoing voice, I am inherently an introvert, preferring to use self-checkouts and avoid unnecessary interactions with random strangers for no purpose. While this has often made me seem anti-social other some, I prefer to think of myself as socially independent; not requiring the interaction with others to get through my daily grind all while not avoiding it when it’s necessary or socially warranted. For these reasons and many others, I almost always use a self-checkout option if I can. But the retail world is complex and convoluted, often differing from one location to the next. Here are a few examples of how this has applied in recent weeks.

I stopped in at a particular retail location to purchase my weekly lottery ticket. For obvious reasons, I won’t name these businesses since, you know, I prefer not getting sued. But generally speaking, lottery and age-restricted items can’t be purchased through a self-checkout for the obvious reasons. So, I walk up to the till. I was the only customer there and waited several minutes for a cashier to notice and acknowledge my arrival and approach the counter. As opposed to the typical greeting one would expect from a retail person, her first words were to ask me if i would be paying by debit or credit, to which I replied I was. She then proceeded to suggest I use the self-checkout and began walking away from me.

Let’s evaluate this for a moment. I’ve worked in the retail environment. Most staff are already of the opinion that their jobs are in jeopardy’s because of self-checkouts and program automation. Yet, this cashier is trying to ENCOURAGE me to use the self-checkout option. I’d say this is just a “her” thing, but I’ve gotten this response from a few different employees at this location. I clarified that I needed lottery, which resulted in a not-so-subtle exhalation of a sigh and a return to the till, as though I had interrupted her previously scheduled program. But I digress… I got my lottery ticket and went on my way, somewhat taken aback at how I was being thrown towards technology by the very folks who have the most to lose from it. That’s the first side of the coin.

Now let’s look at it from the other side of the coin. Another retail location I visited is one where I typically insist on using their self-checkout given the busy lines and long wait times to be served by a cashier. This would be one of those scenarios where I have my headphones on and don’t want to interact with the world; I just want to pay for my shit and go. On this occasion, I have a number for heavy and bulk items that are cumbersome and inconvenient to try and manually run through the till scanner. I begin looking for the scan gun that should be sitting in its cradle at the top of the till. It isn’t there.

Already a bit flustered, it took me all of ten seconds to realize that none of the scan guns were at ANY of the self-checkout tills. I waved over an employee and pointed out the issue. The response was that he brought over a scan gun but rather than let me use it, he physically scanned all my items himself, despite repeating twice that I wanted to do this myself. He indicated that they couldn’t leave the scan guns at the tills and that he was the only one allowed to use them. I challenged him by asking what the point of a self-checkout was, if I needed a cashier to scan my things for me. He had no response.

It seems like such a small point and certainly not one I’d die on the hill for, but it raises a good point. What the fuck is the point of having self-checkout if a cashier scans all my shit? It seemed like a weird scenario in a frowning market where automation and self-checkout of bien flushed but on the flip side, scenarios where staff who should be more than happy to push for their continued employment, push for it as well. As you may have been able to tell, there’s very little to no point behind today’s post. Sometimes, one just needs to rant. ☯️

The UnSeen Symptoms…

These days, we hear a lot of folks talk about invisible injuries or handicaps. While this can refer to a number of different things, it generally refers to instances where someone may be suffering from something that has no outward appearance or that the average person won’t notice. This can include but is not limited to things like PTSD, certain mental health conditions but even certain physical ailments that, while invisible on the outside, can cause great discomfort, pain and inconvenience to the sufferer.

While I wouldn’t necessarily consider Type-1 Diabetes to be an invisible condition, I could see how the average person might believe it to be so. When one considers that, all jokes about obesity meaning one has Diabetes aside, a person would not be able to tell simply by looking at me that I have Diabetes. Of course, if someone is astute enough to spot my insulin pump, it might be a different story. But my focus in today’s post is to consider some of the invisible “symptoms” or Diabetes, even the ones that often smack you in the face but you may not KNOW they’re a symptom.

I should point out that this list is mine and what I’ve noticed over the decades. I’m sure there’s more others could provide, but this is just to give you a bit of idea about three of the main issues that others could potentially attribute to something else. Here we go…

Mood Swings/Temper
Blood sugar fluctuations can also cause changes in one’s emotional state and temperament. For the most part, if my blood sugars rise, I’ll become a cranky, cantankerous asshole. Not to be confused with my everyday crankiness, these moods swings are essentially unavoidable and I have no control over them. While they don’t really happen so much these days, they used to happen quite frequently in my younger years, before I was on pump therapy and before I knew better. I’ll admit I had some ex-girlfriends who may or may not have walked away fully convinced I was just being a dick. In reality, it was blood sugar control that was needed.

This can also occur with extreme low blood sugar. I remember (or rather I was told) about an incident when I was in high school. Somehow, my blood sugars got away on me and I suffered a low. By the time the bell rang and I walked down to get in line for lunch, I was no longer in control of any fine motor function. Oddly enough, my mother had shown up to bring me lunch money and I apparently started yelling at her and told her to get out for the school. It wasn’t until I had eaten and my blood sugar started to level out that one of my friends told me what had happened.

I have no memory of it, at all. The lesson here is that if your fiend or loved one has Type-1 Diabetes and they seem off, emotionally, it’s important to consider they may have fluctuating blood sugars. Or they may just be a dick. I don’t know your friends. Moving on.

Bad Breath
There’s nothing worse than talking to someone who has bad breath. For someone with Diabetes, it can come along naturally or honestly, as this is yet again something that is usually immediately out of our control. There are a couple of reasons that someone with Diabetes will experience bad breath. The main one is that high blood sugars can lead to excess glucose in the saliva, which increases the bacteria in your mouth. As bacteria grow and propagate, it increases the amount of plaque you have, which can lead to bad breath. The bacterial life cycle itself can also cause bad breath.

If a Diabetic person’s breath smells a bit on the fruity side, it could be a sign of uncontrolled blood sugars and ketoacidosis, which is a condition where on’e blood becomes acidic as a result of extreme high blood sugars. In cases you’re not catching the theme here, the majority of these issues are caused by high blood sugars. But in this case, proper teeth brushing, coupled with regular dental visits are critical to maintaining that plaque level and cleanliness. This should be paired with proper monitoring and control of one’s blood sugars.

Fatigue/Apathy
I’ve lost count of how many times in my life I’ve had people call me lazy because my body was physically tired and I had no ability to push myself forward. I’ve had times in school where I was accused of falling asleep in class or people who considered me rude or lazy for refusing to do things or come out because I was tired. Once again, this can be easily attributed to blood sugars being out of whack. Having high blood sugars will make you seem lethargic or apathetic on its own.

Having an extreme low that you’ve treated will make you exhausted once your blood sugars level out because your body was struggling while you were low. You end up exhausted and it isn’t unusual after I’ve treated a low for me to need a short nap to allow my body to recover. To an unknowing person, partner or friend, it could just look like you’re sleeping your day away or are just lazy. I had this one friend back in New Brunswick who had the damndest habit of showing up at my home unannounced to hang out. If I were sleeping, he’d insist on waking me up and getting me out of bed. Boy lucky he didn’t get himself killed. Waking me is a bit like poking a bear. Possible but not advisable.

In the end, the prevention/mitigation of all of these symptoms includes proper blood sugar control, proper diet and proper self-care in general. Sounds easy enough on its face but it very rarely is. And it’s very easy for people to mistake a Diabetic symptom for something else. While not everyone is comfortable discussing their condition with others, the key is solid and open communication so that the people in your life understand. Food for thought… ☯️

Slowing Is Not The Same As Stopping…

I’m sure many of you have heard the expression that you don’t stop training when you get old, you get old when you strop training. The idea behind that is that when you stop maintaining your mobility and fitness, it can have adverse effects on your personal well being. Realistically speaking, the lessening of one’s physical health will also have an impact on the mental clarity, since the mind can’t exist without the body and vice versa.

A good example for this would be my dear mother. She’s spent her entire life taking care of others. Besides being a capable woman in her own right, it started with her caring for my ailing brother, who passed away at the age of 18, followed by caring for her elderly parents since she was the eldest daughter. Even as all of these people have passed away, she then began to dote and take care of my father, who unfortunately has a condition where his spine degenerates and has him wheelchair ridden. She’s always had someone to focus her attentions on. Once the smoke cleared and there was no one left to take care of, her mind slipped away.

Most people have been confused by this phenomena and don’t understand the connection between maintaining the body and maintaining the mind. While my mother has been in a state of hyper awareness for the majority of her life by virtue of caring for others, she’s never taken much care of herself. The result is her body has absolutely no ability to sustain her mind. As a result, she has slipped away. I just spoke to her on Sunday morning by Facetime and she thought my son was a little girl and had no idea who he was. Just a bit sad.

This is why it is so important to keep moving. In recent years, I’ve come to the realization that I can longer carry on in the same fashion as i have for the past few decades. My training in the martial arts has significantly helped in my battle against Type-1 Diabetes and has helped me out of more sticky situations, both personally and professionally, than I can possibly count. But there’s no chance in hell that I can do it like I used to. This was evidenced by a very unfortunate incident at a local karate dojo where I had a couple of my ribs fractured and my muscle wall crushed in a manner that I would have easily defended from in years prior.

It makes me realize that I need to slow myself down. This is not only important in order to accommodate my age, which will never stop, but to prevent unnecessary injury. BY the way, the older you get, the longer and more difficult it is to get over injuries and heal properly. But the important thing, if you paid attention and read the previous two paragraphs, is that you don’t stop moving. Slowing does not mean stopping. And the sooner you throw in the towel and say “screw it, I’m done,” the sooner your body will have difficulties accommodating your needs into the foreseeable future. And you need your body and your mind as long as you can manage it.

Slow down if you need to. Hey, we all get there. Do I think I could still kick some ass, if I needed to? You’d better believe it! Protect my loved ones? Anyone who would threaten the well being of my family would find out that even old dogs can still punch. But I recognize that maybe those two-hour karate sessions need to drop to only one hour. Maybe my 70-kilometres bicycle treks need to become 20 or 30 kilometres instead. I’ll never stop moving. I can’t. My health depends on it. But the manner in which I move and in what amounts are what make the difference. Food for thought… ☯️

Some Frosty Tips…

No, I’m not referring to “frosted” tips, as in what some may have done to their hair back in the 1990’s. I’m referring to frost, as in the icy shit that makes it impossible to see through my windshield in the morning. We’ve started to reach that time of year where, in Saskatchewan at least, the temperatures are starting to consistently drop, the weather is getting cold and Mother Nature is getting ready to dump a pile of white shit in our laps. That’s right, whether we Ike it or not, winter is coming!

If you can’t tell from the sarcasm, I’m not a big fan of winter. I enjoy there autumn just fine. Cool enough that I’m not sweating bullets constantly but warm enough that I don’t have to shovel snow. But once the weather requires maintenance on my part in order to get on with my day, I quickly lose interest. Winter wonderland, my ass! But I digress… By virtue of how long I’ve been writing this blog and given that winter keeps coming around, I’m once again writing about certain health tips that people tend to neglect or forget during the winter months.

While there isn’t quite snow on the ground yet, it’s important to remember that colder temperatures can have some adverse effects on one’s body. First and foremost, one needs to recognize the importance of dressing in layers. I’m sure everyone has heard this a lot but what does it actually mean? Realistically, it’s more than just piling on several. Layers of clothing to ensure you’re warm. In fact, if you layer up improperly, you can end up just as cold and maybe open yourself up to sickness.

Here’s the basic rule of thumb.You should have a moisture wicking layer against your skin. Think under armour or something similar. This allows any warmth-related perspiration to be wicked away from the body. Otherwise, the evaporation of that sweat will cause cooling and your core temp will drop, which could lead to conditions like hypothermia. The next layer should be your insulating layer. This is where you could use your cotton or other insulating materials. And your outer layer would of course be your coat, jacket or similar garment that will block wind, rain and over all cold.

A pair of gloves is always recommended. Extended periods outdoors would be better served by insulated mitts, since the huddling of your fingers will help maintain warmth. But at the very least, gloves. There’s nothing that sucks worse than scarping windows with bare hands. And since I mentioned hypothermia in the previous paragraph, I should touch on the difference between that and frostbite. Hypothermia is basically the dropping of your body’s core temperature to the point where it can’t sustain itself. Frostbite is exposure to cold that causes ice to form in the tissues. That’s an over-simplification, of course, but the difference is basically one happens on the outside and one happens within. Moving on…

Next is the sun. It always amazes me how people tend to forget that the sun’s rays cause the same damage at 30 degrees than at -30 degrees. If outside in the sun during the cold months, remember to wear sunglasses and apply sunscreen to any exposed skin if you’ll be out for prolonged periods. Nothing is more embarrassing than getting a sunburn in the winter but it can happen. Ironically, you actually NEED some sunlight. Exposure to sunlight promotes the creation of Vitamin D in the body. During the winter months, people tend to spend increased time indoors and out of reach h of natural light. So, while one needs other protect oneself from the harmful effects of the sun, it needs to be counterbalanced with some time outdoors to ensure proper Vitamin D levels.

And the last point I’ll touch on of course, is the Diabetic aspect. I don’t need to tell any of my readers who have Type-1 Diabetes that just about everything affects blood sugar levels. Periods of time in the cold weather, at least for me, will increase the effects of any activity or exercise I may be doing. For example, my blood sugar will drop just as drastically for ten minutes of snow shovelling as it would for an hour of weightlifting. So it’s extremely important to monitor your blood sugar, keep some fast-acting carbs on you at all times and be cognizant of how your blood sugars respond to the weather.

That’s it! There’s no getting away from the winter weather, unless you live in a tropical area but I’ll confess I’d take snow over hurricanes and floods any day. Take good precautions, stay hydrated and hopefully we can all get through this thing called winter in one piece. Food for thought…☯️

The Most Unlikely Calorie Burn…

I had someone ask me the question a long timeworn doing a workout recently that had me quite floored, considering my exercise routine is almost non-existent lately. As a matter of routine, I usually spend a period of time post-workout in meditation, as it tends to lower one’s heart rate, lower blood pressure and allow me some recuperative time before grabbing a snack and hitting the showers. For the most part, I tend to save my meditation sessions in my RunKeeper app, not only because the option is available, but it helps me keep track, which is the entire point of the app. I noticed, not for the first time, that the app calculated that I had burned 31 calories during my meditation. This raised the important question: does one burn calories while meditating?

The very short, high level answer without much research is yes, yes you do. I can say this with some confidence as it’s a basic premise that any movement of the body will burn calories. And even as simple an act as breathing or normal bodily functions will burn calories. This doesn’t mean it can be substituted for actual diet and exercise, of course. Otherwise, every couch potato in the world would look like fuckin’ Jean-Claude van Damme in his prime.

For example, I apparently burn about 46 calories for 30 minutes of meditation. Alternatively, I would burn a little over 300 calories for cycling for the same amount for time. Those numbers will vary based on age, weight and how far you travel on the bike during those 30 minutes, of course. But it makes for a significant difference. There was a study released somewhere back in 2016 that estimated that the average person burns about 4.5 calories per minute from meditating. I can’t seem to find the article I read it in. Really have to start saving some of this shit as I find it.

According to an article posted by WebMD, states “meditation […] can lower high blood pressure. It can also help you manage stress, which drives some people to eat.” Disappointingly, the article doesn’t provide a great deal of any thing more related on how meditating can burn calories but rather goes into details on how one should meditate. So there doesn’t seem to be a lot of research or information surrounding whether the action of meditating itself burns any measurable calories or rather has the after effect of lower blood pressure and better control over eating, which brings in less calories.

Ultimately, it’s one of those things that’s just up in the air and there isn’t much to support using it as an actual calorie burning tool. Meditation should first and foremost be used as a means of cantering oneself, finding one’s inner peace and balance and as a supplement to reducing the suffering in one’s life. If you should so happen to burn a few calories while doing it, that’s just a pinch of calorie-free icing on a gluten-free cake. Food for thought…☯️

Movember 2024

Hello, dear readers. I’ve never been much of one to ask others for anything and certainly, my blog has never been intended as a means of making or raising money. In fact, I often find it mildly amusing when I’ve seen blog writers not only have PayPal links on their pages to fund their blog but some who try to do it as a living and actively ask readers for funding. I mean, if it works for them, good for them, I guess. It’s just not something I’ve ever been able to get on board with. But I digress…

My point is, once a year I set aside my reluctance to put a hand out and I raise funds for one of the moist important charity initiatives (to me): Movember.

For those who are unfamiliar, Movember is a registered charity in canada that holds an annual challenge as a way to raise funds and awareness for prostate and testicular cancer, which is diagnosed in more than 1.4 million men globally, each year. Myself and several of my work colleagues have participated for the past few years and have raised tons of money to help support those afflicted with the conditions and to fund cancer research. While we always set a modest goal of only $500 for the year, a little help can go a long way and your donations would do just that.

I know times are tight, everyone has bills and financial obligations and everything seems to be constantly getting more and more expensive. But I can’t stress enough how even the smallest bit adds to the overall pile and can help.

Donating has never been simpler. You can donate directly online by visiting the Movember website and clicking on the black “Donate” button at the top. Select “Find a person or team” and just type in “Shawn Cook” and you should see my ugly mug pop up. Fill out the donation form and you’ve done your part. You can even get a tax receipt, if wanted.

I don’t wander social media much at all these days but hopefully I have a few people on my friends list that will step up and provide a donation. Every little bit helps. Here the webpage: Movember Canada. No pressure and no expectation here, folks. But if anyone wants to contribute and make a donation, please know that it will be sincerely appreciated. ☯️