Living Well With Diabetes

Here’s one more reason on that very long list of reasons to keep blood glucose levels under control: memory function.

In a study done at Columbia University Medical Center, researchers found diminished memory function even with moderately elevated blood glucose levels. The researchers state that since glucose regulation gets worse as a person ages, this result may help explain age-related cognitive decline even among people without diabetes.

The results of the study were originally published in Annals of Neurology (December 2008 issue), but I read about it in the New York Times:

Blood Sugar Control Linked to Memory Decline, Study Says

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Back on August 30, I wrote on this blog “I’m determined not to get used to [driving] my car again.”

Well, here it is nearly four months later and I’m still commuting by bicycle and using my bicycle for other errands whenever possible. I’m afraid I have to admit to driving to work a dozen or so times since August 24, the day I returned from my bicycle tour to Alaska.

Commuting by bicycle has gotten very interesting recently too. Here in Salt Lake City, this December has been a regular rotation of rain, wind, followed by snow. It only took one ride home in a heavy snow to realize I’m going to need some different tires if I expect to stay rubber side down throughout the winter.

With that in mind, I ordered some snow tires for my touring bike. But, not just any snow tires: studded snow tires. In addition to a much more aggressive tread than my current touring tires, these new tires have a hundred and twenty grippy knobs of hardened steel to help keep me upright.

I have some concerns about them though. I’m not sure what they’ll be like on dry pavement. Winters in Salt Lake City often have periods when the roads are dry. To continue commuting by bicycle, I will undoubtedly have to ride in snowy and dry conditions. I’m not going to be switching tires to suit the road conditions, so I’m hoping these studded tires will be better overall compared to my current touring tires. My new tires should arrive soon — hopefully before the next big snowfall — and I’ll post an update on how they work.

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The Hygiene Hypothesis has been around a while. Dr. David P. Strachan wrote about it first in 1989 in an article in the British Medical Journal. He proposed the hypothesis to explain the observation that allergic diseases, such as hay fever and eczema, were less common in children growing up in larger families. The explanation for this observation says that some exposure to infectious agents during childhood helps develop a robust and healthy immune system and that children in larger families are exposed to more infectious agents through their siblings.

Since that time, the Hygiene Hypothesis has been studied in great detail. It now is often mentioned to explain the general increase in allergic diseases since industrialization and the higher rate of allergic diseases in developed countries.

A recent study funded by the JDRF has found “common intestinal bacteria may somehow interact with the early (innate) immune system to modify type 1 diabetes risk, a finding that supports the hygiene hypothesis.” You can read the synopsis published by the JDRF here:

JDRF-Funded Study Links “Hygiene Hypothesis” To Diabetes Prevention

Wikipedia has a great article on the Hygiene Hypothesis, including cross-references and alternative hypotheses.

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One of the bonuses of my bicycle tour to Alaska this summer was getting to see my good friend Dave Nevins while I was in Sitka. We rarely managed to see each other when he lived in Boise, Idaho and after he moved to Sitka, Alaska a couple years ago, we’ve had to stay in touch by email and phone.

While I was in Sitka, Dave told me of his projects to raise awareness of diabetes and the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle. When he did, my own project to do the same by bicycling to each of the 50 states began to sound pretty tame.

You see, Dave enjoys doing things like jumping out of perfectly good airplanes and finding the world’s highest suspension bridge and jumping off of it. He’s a notorious bungee-jumping and sky-diving fanatic with a reputation for such activities stretching from Arizona to Alaska. For example, this past September, he made his way to the Royal Gorge Bridge in Cañon City, Colorado and instead of doing some sightseeing like a normal person, he bungee-jumped off of it. The road surface on the Royal Gorge Bridge sits 1053 feet above the Arkansas River, so in my book, you’re crazy Dave! But you have my highest respect for knowing what you enjoy doing and then doing it!

Dave did his jump during the Go Fast Games 2008. The company offering the bungee jumping that was Over The Edge Bungee, Inc.. Their web site has some video and photos to help you get a feel for the height of the jump. Dave has also promised me some video of his own jump off the Royal Gorge Bridge. I’ll be sure to post that when it arrives.

For relaxation, he’ll do things such as riding his bicycle 500 miles in seven days, like he and I did in the Border-to-Border Against Diabetes (BBAD) tour in 2004.

So what’s he up to now? He’s planning a run around Lake Tahoe on the Tahoe Rim Trail. Sounds like a nice outing, right? Except that it’s 168 miles and will take eight days. Dave is getting together a team of people (AKA “Team Run Alaska”) to do this and is making plans to film a documentary of it. Right now, the planned dates are August 10-17, 2009 and he’s got five “slightly crazy people to be a part of the madness” (his words, not mine). He’s looking for at least one more runner and another support crew person. Since he’s organizing this run to raise awareness of diabetes, he’d really like to get at least one more person with diabetes involved. Hint, hint! Any readers out there who might want to be part of this history-making event? If so, send me an email and I’ll put you in touch with Dave.

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