Psychosocial

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Better blood glucose levels are linked to mindfulness in a new study by Brown University researchers. Because sustained high blood glucose levels lead to the complications of diabetes and prediabetes, nothing could be more important for us.

The study measured several physical and psychological health indicators in 399 volunteers who participate in the New England Family Study. Eric B. Loucks, PhD, and five colleagues published the study, “Associations of Mindfulness with Glucose Regulation and Diabetes,” in the March 2016 issue of the American Journal of Health Behavior. Dr. Loucks is assistant professor of epidemiology at Brown University’s School of Public Health.

Only the abstract of the study is free online, but on my request a representative of Brown University provided me with a copy of the manuscript that Dr. Loucks had written for publication. This let me learn all the details of the study and provided an analysis of how the findings relate to those of us who have to live with diabetes or prediabetes.

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I celebrated the new year on December 21, when it started. Like me, you can celebrate it with good intentions for diabetes health.

Most people celebrate ten days later on what our calendar says is New Year’s Eve. After a night of partying, it’s typical to respond with good intentions to turn over a new leaf in the next 365 or 366 days. These resolutions are made to be broken because we not only aim too late but we also aim too high.

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Diabetes self-management education, which is known as DSME,  leads to a statistically significant decrease in A1C levels. That’s the conclusion of a systematic review of 118 studies. But this review doesn’t support the recommendation of the American Diabetes Association that the best time for this education is right after diagnosis.

The Worse Your Level the More This Helps

The review shows that this diabetes education typically improves blood glucose control by about 0.6 percent more than the usual care that we get. While this may not sound like a lot, it is. For example, if your A1C is 9.0 you can expect that it will drop to 8.4 after you get educated in this way.

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During this holiday season, when most of us in the Western world have too much to eat, I encourage you to give thanks for the abundance we can enjoy even while we suffer from diabetes. Consider, if you will, what diabetes and gratitude have in common?

Actually, they share two important things. First, they share the month of November every year, and second, all of us who have diabetes have much for which we can give special thanks.

By presidential proclamation November 2015 is “National Diabetes Month.” On October 30, President Obama called on all of us to “raise diabetes awareness and help prevent, treat, and manage the disease.”

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When you nurture your social relationships, you are doing something as important for your health as your physical activity, your weight, and the other well-known risk factors. For those of us who have diabetes, managing our blood sugar certainly has to come first, but nothing else matters as much as having a healthy social life.

If you are socially isolated, you increase inflammation in your body and damage your immune system. It can be a factor leading to diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease. But when you surround ourselves with supportive friends, even managing your blood sugar is easier.

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