Living Well With Diabetes

Back in December, in this post, I mentioned that I recently built a sailboat. Actually, I’m not quite finished building it, but I’m close enough that I’m starting to think about sailing it. And sailing other boats too.

I haven’t written much about the building of this Eastport Pram or the topic of sailing at all because it seems a bit off-topic for this web site. But, I think can say this safely: early last week, Pat and I enrolled in a “Cruise and Learn” course. It’s a five-day course leaving from Sidney, British Columbia (south end of Vancouver Island). It starts on May 30. In the meantime, we have “on shore” course work to do. By the time we arrive back in Sidney, we will have earned a Canadian Yachting Association Day Skipper certificate (providing we pass the written exams).

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Today, instead of my usual bicycling attire, I rode my bike to and from work in street clothes.

I had a jacket on, of course, because it was pretty cold this morning (about 24 degrees F) when I left the house. Also my helmet and cycling shoes, but other than that, I was in my usual work attire: jeans and a pullover shirt or sweater.

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I looked into a closet full of cycling jerseys and a drawer full of cycling shorts and I just said no. It wasn’t that I objected to wearing anything resembling spandex, polyester, or chamois next to my skin. No, it wasn’t that. It was the thought of climbing into a cycling jersey and some cycling shorts, then putting on a fleece cycling jacket and leggings and finally, over all that, a windproof, high visibility jacket and pants. Then, when I got to work forty-five minutes later, I would take it all off and throw on my jeans and shirt for a day at work. At the end of the day, after returning home, I’d repeat the process. In total, I’m getting dressed four times each day. That’s what I don’t like about bicycle commuting.

Of course, the alternative is to dress once and drive the car to work and that’s just crazy talk. No, dressing four times a day isn’t so bad after all.

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There’s interesting health news out of Australia. Researchers there have found that too much sitting shortens lives. As reported by the New York Times today, they found that “each daily hour of television viewing was associated with an 18 percent increase in deaths from heart disease and an 11 percent increase in overall mortality.”

Here’s a link to the story I read on the New York Times web site:

Behavior: Too Much Sitting Shortens Lives, Study Suggests

When I read the piece, my first reaction was to think “it’s the television that’s shortening lives, not sitting!” I mean, what about other sedentary activities like reading or sitting in front of a computer for hours composing posts for a blog that nobody reads?

Well, I tracked down the full text of the paper which describes the study results. It’s available from the American Heart Association. In the concluding paragraph, it reads:

… our findings suggest that reducing time spent watching television (and possibly other prolonged sedentary behaviors) may also be of benefit in preventing CVD [Cardiovascular Disease] and premature death.

They don’t say conclusively that other sedentary activities have the same risks, but really, it makes sense that they would. Sitting is sitting, right? Or does posture and brain activity and the kind of chair you’re plopped into make a difference?

Here’s a link to the full article (note: it’s a PDF file so you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader):

Television Viewing Time and Mortality. The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study

I hope the link works for you. If not, the first link above includes a link to the abstract of the article. From there, you can click on the link on the right side to download the PDF of the “Full Text.”

After that, get up out of your chair!

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This announcement appeared in my inbox a few days ago:

Kris Freeman, one of the country’s most elite cross country skiers, has been selected to compete as a part of the US Ski Team in the 2010 Olympic Games this February in Vancouver. As a fierce competitor on the course, Kris is a medal contender in all three cross-country skiing distance events.

Kris was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2000 at the age of 19. You can read all about Kris’s personal story here:

Kris Freeman Story

Go Kris!

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Back in 2006, I spent seven months riding my bicycle to 48 of the 50 states to raise awareness that having diabetes is not a reason to give up pursuing life dreams. For me, The Dream Tour, as I called it, was a 20-year-old life dream which was made possible through the generous support of Bayer Healthcare.

Apparently the idea of visiting 48, or even 50, states on a bicycle for a cause is catching on. Just yesterday, I received two emails about people planning tours of this kind.

One fellow plans to do it with a mission of raising awareness of autism and in honor of his autistic grandson and everybody affected by autism. He plans to ride to all 50 states in 2011 while he is 50 years old. He’s already got a web site:

The 50 at 50

and it has plenty of information about the planning he’s already done.

Another fellow is planning to visit 48 states in a year. You can read all about his plans and watch his video on his web site, www.jjthemachine.com. His cause? Well, I’m not sure exactly. It’s kind of a meta-cause, I suppose. He writes:

Our country is currently struggling with many problems and I want to find people and organizations that are making a difference and help out in any way that I can.

Bravo to the both of you!

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