Joslin directed me to a WebMD Health News article today. The title: Why Some May Avoid Type 1 Diabetes Complications: researchers say more than just blood sugar control may be at work for some patients.
So of course I read it. (Especially after my eye visit yesterday when my doctor said she saw no diabetic retinopathy!) I didn’t understand the other proteins, the ones referred to as advanced glycation end products… there are times I just need to draw a line in the sand of how much of some of these things I need to understand in a day.
Continuing on through the article, they quoted one of the experts as saying “those with diabetes who are free or mostly free of complications [after 50 years] are leading a charmed life.” That one didn’t make me happy or motivated to seek that guy out. I think a large part of what he calls “charmed” involves quite a bit of work every day over the course of several decades.
The author won me immediately back when she quoted another expert who said that most of the [Joslin 50 years of living with type one diabetes] medalists “do fairly rigorous exercise at least three times a week, 45 minutes or more.”
So check it out: EXERCISING DOES NOT REQUIRE LUCK, GENETIC GIFTS, TALENT OF ANY KIND, COORDINATION, INTELLIGENCE, MONEY, or anything, really. You’ve seen that people without legs can exercise, and do!
Since exercise, and I do mean rigorous exercise, can lead to so many benefits and is one hallmark of a long life with type one diabetes, and since exercise requires so little of us other than carving out the time it takes to work up a sweat, my vote remains in favor of exercise as a way to deal with and combat some of the unwanted outcomes of type one diabetes.
In fact, I’m now re-energized and heading out for a nice long run to celebrate.
Who’s with me?
