Walking a Dog Is Good for Your Health

This article is interesting and could be just what is needed. The missing information in this study is the cost of pet ownership – vet fees, pet food, leashes, cleaning supplies, insurance costs, city licensing fees, pet care when on vacation, and shelter costs.

Having grown up with dogs and cats, I love them, but I very happy that the apartment I rent forbids them. Therefore, I have none of the costs and maintaining a pet in the city can be expensive. Many insurance companies will not issue insurance on certain breeds.

The research suggests that walking the dog may be a healthy activity for older Americans. Dog walking helps cut back on excess weight and the overall need to visit a physician while raising overall moderate and vigorous exercise levels among the over-60 set, investigators found.

Strong emotional bonds are formed between the owner and pet creating social benefits. This also encourages increased contact with other pet owners.

Study lead author Angela Curl, says, "There is a wealth of evidence that walking is beneficial for people's physical health." She is an assistant professor in the department of family studies and social work at Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio.

What makes dog walking unique is the relationship between people and their dogs, as well as the ways dogs can motivate walking behavior. Other studies have shown dogs' needs provide a motivation to get out and walk. Our findings illustrate that the emotional bond people have with their dogs may play an important role in getting out to walk.

Curl and her colleagues discussed their work in a recent issue of The Gerontologist. The authors noted that in 2014, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that all adults, regardless of age, rack up a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate activity every week. Walking happens to be the most frequent exercise activity among adults 60 and up.

To explore the impact of dog ownership on that, the investigating team analyzed data involving a nationally representative sample of 771 men and women (50 years old and up) collected in 2012 by the Health and Retirement Study. That investigation was conducted at the University of Michigan, with funding from the U.S. National Institute on Aging. Just over a third of the participants (271) owned at least one dog. Pet ownership involving other types of animals was not considered.

A portion of the dog owners group was asked questions to gauge pet "bonding," including whether they considered their dog a friend, and whether they talked about their dog with others. Frequency and overall time spent walking was also assessed, as were overall walking habits, walking speed and total distance walked per week.

The result: While owning a dog was not directly associated with having better overall health among those 60 and up, it was associated with a lower body mass index (a measure of weight and obesity status); fewer physical limitations; less frequent visits to a doctor; and more routine exercise. The study didn't prove a cause-and-effect relationship, however.

Secrecy about Diabetes Not Good

It has been a few days since the woman with type 2 diabetes was released by the hospital and Brenda called today and said she was back in the hospital and still in very poor condition. She said that this time is was hyperglycemia and she had not been okay when her husband left for work and he had sent the children off to school before he left. He did go home at noon and found her unconscious and called the ambulance.

Brenda would be picking up the children today and taking them directly to the hospital per the doctor's instructions. The husband had objected, but the doctor told him that his wife may not recover and he felt the children should see her before something happened. He then agreed and said he would allow this.

Sue said that after the children arrived and saw their mother, they started crying and between tears asked their dad why they were keeping everything a secret when something was wrong with mom. The father asked the nurse to come over and explain what was the matter with their mother. Sue said the nurse asked the doctor if this was okay and he said he would as soon as he checked on their mother.

After he returned from that, he sat the children down and spent about 20 minutes answering their questions and then he had the nurse continue while he checked on their mother again. Brenda said both did an excellent job of answering their questions and the nurse showed them some slides about diabetes and explained what each slide meant and what they should be watching for when their mother was released from the hospital and then what steps to take.

Brenda said that the eldest then asked her if this was serious. Brenda had to think before she answered. She told them that it was serious as long as her mother would not talk about it with her and thought that she still had a secret from them. If she started talking to them about her diabetes and what she may need when they were not in school, then it could be less serious. The daughter then asked about what she had done the first time by calling 911 and if that was the correct action. Brenda said under the circumstances is was the correct thing to do. This is what should have been done that morning, but their father had not realized how serious it was since she could still talk.

The father came out then and asked if Brenda could take the children home. The two put up some resistance and Brenda said she would take them to her house until their father picked them up.

The next morning, Brenda called more of us together and said the two girls had asked many questions and asked to see the medication she was taking. The eldest said that was the same as they had seen in the refrigerator at home and asked how she took it and many more questions. Brenda said they were very patient and when they asked about saying something at school, Brenda said she advised them that this would not be something wise as this time. She said that this was the reason her mother had not said anything to tell them about her diabetes.

Brenda did say that she told them about the horror stories other children would tell them and while the two hospital stays by her mother were serious, they would only add to the horror stories other children would tell them. Most of this was because of misinformation that the other children had been told about diabetes.

Brenda said she would give us additional as she and Sue learn about it. She stated that this situation is scary and she hoped the woman does not lose her life over her desire for secrecy.

Avoid Foot Amputation in Diabetes Patients

A Mexican study has importance about amputations. Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University and National Autonomous Mexico University develop techniques to treat diabetic foot syndrome with special insoles with silver nano-particles. The techniques help to fight ulcers appearing on feet in diabetic patients, facilitates their healing and disinfection, reducing the risk of amputation.

Silver preparations being developed by Tomsk Polytechnic University jointly with Novosibirsk and Mexican counterparts are able to reduce such risks.

"The research has shown silver's antibacterial properties facilitate rapid healing of ulcers and suppurations in patients with diabetic foot syndrome. Together with colleagues from Mexico, where the problem is particularly acute, we are working to create special insoles for diabetic patients. The development has passed clinical tests. In patients who had used the insoles impregnated with silver nano-particles, foot ulcers healed up, the risk of amputations significantly reduced," says TPU Professor Alexey Pestryakov, Head of the Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry.

Diabetic foot syndrome is one of the latest and most serious complications of diabetes. Due to the large amount of sugar in the body, there are changes in peripheral nerves, blood vessels, skin and soft tissues, bones and joints of the patient. Infections, ulcers, suppurations and so on are emerging. Up to 15% of people with diabetes have the risk of developing ulcers on their feet. In the advanced form, diabetic foot syndrome can lead to amputation.

A team led by the scientist develops pharmaceuticals based on silver nano-particles having universal impact on viruses, bacteria and fungi. The scientists have cooperated with Mexican colleagues for more than 10 years.

"We have got a contract with the Mexican government, gained large grants for research. Built a serious team consisted of scientists and doctors. Together we work to improve the quality of our products, we carry out joint research and experiments," says Prof Alexey Pestryakov.

Now the big question is will this find be exported to the United States? For some reason, I expect scientists here will develop a comparable product and market it for more profit.

What Do You Eat When Bored?

When you are bored, what to you eat and why? Think about this for a while. I was surprised as I don't turn to food, but I do drink more water or caffeine free diet Coke. A few years ago it would have been just diet Coke. The extra caffeine I realized was only making my blood glucose remain elevated and sleep was not what I needed.

Dull times lead to unhealthy choices, including chips, sweets and fast food, studies find.

If you find yourself reaching into a bag of chips and you know you're not hungry, maybe you're just bored instead, new research suggests. British researchers conducted two experiments to see how boredom affects people's food choices.

In one trial, the researchers asked 52 participants to fill out a questionnaire about their food preferences before and after repeatedly copying the same group of letters. After completing that boring task, the participants were more likely to say they preferred unhealthy fare such as chips, sweets and fast food.

In a second experiment, 45 people were offered a number of healthy and unhealthy snacks while watching either a boring or a funny video. Those who watched the boring video ate much more of the unhealthy snacks.

The findings were presented at the British Psychological Society's annual meeting this week. Research presented at meetings is generally viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

The researchers then suggest that these results are in line with previous research and this suggests that we crave fatty and sugary foods when we are bored. Sandi Mann, a senior psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire says this strengthens the theory that boredom is related to low levels of the stimulating brain chemical dopamine and that people try to boost this by eating fat and sugar if they cannot alleviate their boredom in some other way.

Mann said this information could be helpful for people designing public health campaigns. If they want to encourage healthier food choices, they need "to take boredom, including boredom in the workplace, into account. Bored people do not eat nuts," she said in a society news release.

Therefore if you have type 2 diabetes, are bored – remember to be careful about what you consume during this period.

A New Diabetes Forum Now Available

Since I joined this diabetes forum, I do not know how this forum will go, but several of the members are avid low carb high fat promoters from the prior forum and this is their stated goal of maintaining a forum for low carb high fat (LCHF) discussions and having the discussion limited to this.

In the rules section, this is clearly stated and people, who are promoting other ways of eating, are asked to go to other forums that want these discussions. I think this is more than fair. This politely and clearly states the desires of the forum.

“Since we are a serious LCHF forum, I think that & our philosophy "Eat to your Meter" should be our principal points,” says Shyam, a principal in the forum site.

Membership is naturally low at this time. I would like to participate in a more active manner, but my cataracts are getting worse. I have had one eye operated on now, but I see no improvement, if fact worse improvement in that eye. I will need to have the second eye operated on by the end of the month – if I pass all the other tests.

I do not understand the reason behind all the tests as I see them as duplicates of the tests before the first eye operation. I can appreciate the concern for my well being, but if the second eye operation is delayed, I will become very agitated with the doctors.

Membership is not growing very fast and this may be a good thing. The LCHF way of eating is the way people on this forum manage their diabetes. It works for them and many other people. Many of these people maintain a ketogenic state and are burning fat for energy. I don't know the amount of weight the current members have lost, but I would estimate the pounds lost is more than many of would estimate.

Much of the discussion on the forum is historical in nature at present. This means fasting readings, an experiment by one member and the daily posting. The recipe section is taking off which provides great LCHF food ideas for members. I seldom use many of the recipes as I am working my carb intake even lower.

Because I float between several forums, I do see many of the members on several of the same forums. Participation seems to be holding fairly stable on these forums and new membership is accelerating on one I had thought might be in trouble.

If you are looking for a diabetes forum that promotes LCHF, then consider joining this forum.

People Often Clinically Excluded From Type 2 Drug Trials

People are under intense scrutiny for selection for type 2 diabetes drug trials. This is often done to help obtain the results desired and Big Pharma does this to obtain positive results for drug approval from the FDA.

Young women of childbearing age are usually excluded. Exclusion criteria for clinical trials of type 2 medications that affect women of childbearing potential are frequently disproportionate to risk to the participant and fetus. This data is shown from a study published in Diabetes Care.

Clinical trials often exclude women of childbearing potential due to concerns about adverse fetal effects of treatment. Because of the high prevalence of diabetes among pregnant women, researchers examined the prevalence of fertility-related exclusion criteria in clinical trials for type 2 diabetes medications. They sought to determine whether these criteria are an accurate representation of type 2 diabetes drug risk.

This is why many of the women who develop diabetes while pregnant are put on insulin rather that any oral medications.

The next group is young people under the age of 18 to 20 years of age. This is mainly because of the legal process of obtaining permission for testing. The other problem is parents that pull the young from trials for capricious reasons. Most researchers avoid this by excluding them from trials.

The elderly are also excluded from trials because of other comorbid conditions that researchers do not want to deal with. Most of the time, the age excluded is 65 and older. However, people under the age of 65 are also excluded if they have other comorbid conditions or diseases.

Read my blog here about elderly discrimination and why it harms the elderly. Occasionally, a study will use limited comorbid conditions for the elderly up to the age of 74. These trials are very limited and the comorbid conditions are also limited.

This makes many clinical trials very discriminatory and possibly harmful to the classes of people mentioned above. Yet, when people in these classes are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, the doctors prescribe the medications to people not in the clinical trials. They do this normally on the advice of drug reps of the companies making the drugs. The doctors are often unaware that these classes have been excluded from the drug trials and may be causing harm to the very patients they want to help.

Are You On the Diabetes Couch?

If you are, and are medically able, get off the couch and exercise to the limit that is available to you. I know several people with type 2 diabetes living in a nursing home and are unable to walk, yet most of them exercise every day. Granted it is upper body exercise and light weight lifting, plus most are able use their wheel chairs to move themselves around at meal times and at other times.

Granted, a sedentary lifestyle may lead to type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The researchers have correctly identified many of the factors that lead to type 2 diabetes, which has meant in the USA, at least, to slow the new cases of diabetes. There is still a lot of work to do, but at least we know that genetics, lifestyle, and environment have been linked with type 2 diabetes.

The further identification of modifiable risk factors continues to be a tool for prevention and some studies have shown that an over sedentary life can increase metabolic syndrome, weight gain, and insulin resistance.

This recent cross-sectional study investigated associations between total amount and patterns of sedentary behavior, metabolic syndrome and glucose metabolism. Participants were analyzed from the Maastricht Study, a prospective population-based cohort study of the pathophysiology, etiology and comorbidities of type 2 diabetes. Inclusion criteria mandated that all participants were between the ages of 40-75 and living in the southern Netherlands. They were recruited by means of mass media from municipal registries and diabetes registries.

This study took measures to adjust for confounding variables between study groups, but only followed patients for 1 week and could not adjust for the possibility that type 2 diabetes patients may be more sedentary due to poor health. Furthermore, by virtue of the study design, a causal relationship cannot be inferred. Though a longitudinal randomized clinical trial should be conducted to determine causation, this does not discount the findings of the current study, which has made a strong association between sedentary behavior and an increased chance of developing type 2 diabetes.

This to me is not a valid study and does mean that more studies need to be done. Yes, this is one thing many of us with type 2 diabetes know that people need to avoid. Being sedentary is something that everyone that is like this hears repeatedly “get up and move.” This is said so often that people that have problems moving and are by necessity sedentary get tired of hearing.