Tuesday, July 11, 2006

 

Yoga and Diabetes


Why yoga? "Type 1 diabetes is caused by No production of insulin and this is very difficult to treat with Yoga."
From the Yoga Journal: "But because people under stress have elevated blood sugar levels, it's difficult to determine whether asanas and meditation work because they relax patients or because specific poses stimulate the pancreas, causing it to release more insulin." I've found that any time I spend on being "focused," a very difficult time spent indeed, it seems to effect my blood sugar positively. However, Yoga always seems to get aerobic when I do it, even just strength exercises. See previous post on 10/1/05!

Comments:
It should be noted that type 1 diabetes is not very difficult, but absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to treat with yoga. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease caused when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the insulin producing beta cells found in the pancreas as if they were a virus. Once these cells are destroyed, the person's life is completely dependent on an exogenous source of insulin. Type 1 diabetes has no etiological relation to the far more common form of diabetes (type 2), which is caused when the cells in the body no longer respond properly to insulin.
 
Yes indeed! I suppose my question is related to how stress-reducers (yoga rather than elliptical trainers, for example) can have a more long lasting affect on maintaining good blood glucose control - from a lifestyle perspective, rather than a medicinal one (and where they are linked in elusive ways is not always clear, hence the irregular response to yoga classes for some Type 1 diabetics worried about lows). Thanks for your comment.
 
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