summer is upon us, and for many people that means it's time for a vacation! to get everyone ready for this vacation season, i have some awesome guest posts about traveling to share with you from some of the amazing members of the DOC. today's post is written by the always entertaining bob from t minus 2! thanks so much bob :)
Staying at Home with Diabetes
So my good friend Fancy Nancy is hosting a series of guest posts on traveling with diabetes. While I haven't yet seen the other posts as I write this, I don't doubt that they are as full of wisdom as pecan pie is full of sugar.
But far be it from me to cooperate with anything worthwhile like that. This post is about staying at home with diabetes.
See, not only do I not travel much, I'm not exaggerating when I say that I sometimes go for weeks without leaving an area that's less than a mile square. My work is walking distance from my apartment. There's a good drugstore across the street from work, and a good grocery store just a couple of blocks farther. I do have occasional errands that take me farther afield, but as I don't drive, it's never more than a few miles.
(And walking? I live at the bottom of a hill that would have Lance Armstrong reaching for the TV remote. And yet I walk to work every day. And I have to climb that hill on the way home, too.)
While i occasionally take an actual trip, I put it off as long as possible. While it's true that I have my share of little anxieties, flying isn't one of them -- it's more the hassle and arrangement-making that deters me. If I could afford a personal assistant to set stuff up for me, I'd travel more often. As it is, it's been a couple of years since I've gone very far from home.
So, here are my tips for staying at home with diabetes:
Find ways to keep to your diabetes care schedule. Many people find it harder to keep on top of their self-care without the structure of the work day. On the weekend days, I have reminders for my afternoon pills set on every electronic device I own. (And don't think it's easy to set a reminder on a rice cooker.)
Make sure you have what you need. Say it's Saturday morning, and you've promised yourself a deeply productive weekend playing computer games, and you discover you're out of your blood pressure meds. Are you gonna strap on your cross-trainers and head out to get some? Not if you're like me. If you're like me, you'll figure that you probably aren't due for a stroke this weekend anyway and get back to the zombies. The wise PWD avoids this situation. (I'm always wise. OK, -usually- wise. Um, would you buy 'occasionally' wise?).
Don't stay up all night. When you spend a lot of time at home, especially if you live alone as I do, it's all too easy to stay up and tweet, or kill zombies, or do crossword puzzles, or watch cooking videos on YouTube. (Interested in being a better cook? Seriously, YouTube is amazing. Try searching on "gnocchi".) But it's better for our energy, and our mood, and even our insulin resistance if we're properly rested. So keep your sleep on a regular schedule.
(And when you figure out how to keep your sleep on a regular schedule...tell me the secret, please?)
In all seriousness, almost all of us will benefit by doing a little planning for times when we're off our normal routines, whether you going to the other side of the world or only the other side of your bedroom. Besides, -I- think travel is overrated, anyway. Remember what they say: no matter where you go, there you are. So why go at all?
But far be it from me to cooperate with anything worthwhile like that. This post is about staying at home with diabetes.
See, not only do I not travel much, I'm not exaggerating when I say that I sometimes go for weeks without leaving an area that's less than a mile square. My work is walking distance from my apartment. There's a good drugstore across the street from work, and a good grocery store just a couple of blocks farther. I do have occasional errands that take me farther afield, but as I don't drive, it's never more than a few miles.
(And walking? I live at the bottom of a hill that would have Lance Armstrong reaching for the TV remote. And yet I walk to work every day. And I have to climb that hill on the way home, too.)
While i occasionally take an actual trip, I put it off as long as possible. While it's true that I have my share of little anxieties, flying isn't one of them -- it's more the hassle and arrangement-making that deters me. If I could afford a personal assistant to set stuff up for me, I'd travel more often. As it is, it's been a couple of years since I've gone very far from home.
So, here are my tips for staying at home with diabetes:
Make sure you have what you need. Say it's Saturday morning, and you've promised yourself a deeply productive weekend playing computer games, and you discover you're out of your blood pressure meds. Are you gonna strap on your cross-trainers and head out to get some? Not if you're like me. If you're like me, you'll figure that you probably aren't due for a stroke this weekend anyway and get back to the zombies. The wise PWD avoids this situation. (I'm always wise. OK, -usually- wise. Um, would you buy 'occasionally' wise?).
Don't stay up all night. When you spend a lot of time at home, especially if you live alone as I do, it's all too easy to stay up and tweet, or kill zombies, or do crossword puzzles, or watch cooking videos on YouTube. (Interested in being a better cook? Seriously, YouTube is amazing. Try searching on "gnocchi".) But it's better for our energy, and our mood, and even our insulin resistance if we're properly rested. So keep your sleep on a regular schedule.
(And when you figure out how to keep your sleep on a regular schedule...tell me the secret, please?)
Great guest pop Sir Bob!
ReplyDeleteSleep - such an easy thing to neglect, and such an easy thing to underestimate the power of. When I don't have my rest, everything goes nuts. But time and time again, I run myself thin.
Never you mind that it is 3:08 AM as I write this comment.