Increasing Positive Emotions / Physical Wellbeing

Vitamin D: The Sunshine Vitamin

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

**This is the first part of a two-part series on vitamin D and sunlight. Please find the second blog post of the series here.**

The Importance of Vitamin D in Type 1 Diabetes

Vitamin D is essential for strong bones because the body requires Vitamin D to metabolise calcium for bone health. However, the importance of Vitamin D extends well beyond this one factor for those currently with the condition of Type 1 Diabetes.

The link between Type 1 Diabetes and Vitamin D is very interesting. For example, it has been clearly demonstrated in the scientific literature that adequate Vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of later developing Type 1 Diabetes. This therefore makes me wonder if it’s therefore also a necessary factor in reversing T1D…?

Preliminary research findings also suggest that Vitamin D supplementation in the initial period following diagnosis may also successfully extend the honeymoon period in Type 1 Diabetes, meaning insulin will either be not required or will be required at much lower doses for a longer period of time.

I also found another interesting study that demonstrated how Vitamin D deficiency contributes to the development of Type 2 Diabetes. The author discusses how low levels of Vitamin D lead to increased insulin resistance, which in turn leads to beta-cell burnout. In healing my T1D, I believe that minimising my insulin resistance is likely to give my healing pancreas more of a chance to produce adequate insulin for my body’s needs if I am asking it to produce less.

Furthermore, Vitamin D deficiency has also been shown to inhibit insulin production in the pancreas. This is exactly what I don’t want to be doing if I want to heal so vitamin D sufficiency is a must!!

What I find particularly heartbreaking is that, despite the benefits to T1D and healing, the majority of people going through the condition of Type 1 Diabetes have Vitamin D deficiency. It is very common, with a prevalence ranging from 15% to 90.6% in clinical samples. Since Vitamin D treatment has been shown to improve both blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity, this deficiency is hugely detrimental to the T1D population.

Sources of Vitamin D: Food, Supplements and Sunlight

Okay, I am definitely persuaded that Vitamin D is vital to my healing journey due to the raft of health benefits it provides. So how do I get enough of this little beauty??

Vitamin D in Food... Fish, Mushrooms and Fortified Foodstuffs

Very few natural foods contain a good amount of vitamin D. Those that do include several types of fish (salmon, herring, sardines and tuna) and mushrooms. Other food sources that provide vitamin D are fortified foods, where vitamin D has been artificially added. These include cow’s milk, cereal, orange juice and soy milk. but the chance of being able to fully consume the required daily allowance of Vitamin D purely through what you eat is pretty low. We just don’t eat enough of these kinds of foods. So whilst I do now eat a good amount of fish (see my blog post here on that topic), I feel I need to look beyond food for additional sources of vitamin D.

Vitamin D Supplements

The next obvious place to look for additional sources of Vitamin D are through supplements. They are easy to use and provide a guaranteed level of Vitamin D each day. Easy! Or is it?

The thing is…. I spent most of my early thirties being Vitamin D deficient. I took supplement after supplement – some prescribed by doctors, some purchased privately from ‘top of the range’ supplement providers, some just from pharmacies. I took them all diligently but none – NONE! – of them got my Vitamin D back in range. During this time, I became aware that Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, needing the presence of fat to be properly absorbed. So then I took my supplement with my meals. Yet I still remained Vitamin D deficient!!

This changed for me after my daughter was born. When she was six months old, I attended a talk at my local nursery on weaning. The nurse practitioner running the class was wearing a badge that read ‘Ask me about Vitamin D’. So I did. She said that, because we were so good these days at protecting our children with sunscreen, the rate of rickets is rising in children. So she wanted to advise us all to give our children supplements to counteract this. At this point my intuition started screaming at me… This seemed absolutely mad…! We are supposed to use a manufactured product (sunscreen) to protect our children but then need to use another manufactured product (vitamin D supplements) to counter the side effect?!?! And, from my own experiences, I knew that this Vitamin D wouldn’t even necessarily be an effective solution… It wasn’t for me!! The simple solution I landed up was simply letting my child play in the sun, in the same way generations before her have also done!

Vitamin D From Sunlight

My intuition has now been supported by the work of Dr. Michael Holick. He highlights how more than 90% of Vitamin D is actually produced inside the body using the ultraviolet rays contained in sunshine. He has found that the recommended doses for Vitamin D supplementation are often inadequate. Indeed, Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in adults of all ages who always wear sunscreen or limit their outdoor activities. In fact, Holick states that it is difficult to maintain adequate Vitamin D levels in healthy concentrations without sunlight.

Benefits of Sunlight

However, the benefits on health of sunlight go way beyond avoiding vitamin D deficiency. I include herewith a whole host of other factors that support the inclusion of safe sun exposure as part of daily life…

Avoidance of Vitamin D Toxicity:

An additional benefit of using sunlight as my source of Vitamin D is that it avoids the potential for vitamin D toxicity. Although rare, it is indeed possible to develop vitamin D toxicity from over-supplementation. This can cause nausea, vomiting, weakness and frequent urination. Unlike other sources of vitamin D, sun exposure does not typically lead to vitamin D toxicity due to the body’s ability to naturally regulate production.

Increased Levels of Serotonin - The Wellbeing and Happiness Hormone:

I know that when I have spent time in sunlight, I feel better… Whether that’s lazing in the grass with a book or even just sitting in a graveyard for an hour whilst I had lunch (yeah, I know it’s weird but it was the only outside space near where I used to work…!!). Sunshine just seems to make me feel better and give me more joy. It feels good on my skin.

The scientific literature appears to provide an explanation for my increased joy… It would appear that sitting outside in the sunshine kickstarts your brain’s serotonin production. Serotonin is one of a series of hormones in the body. It acts as a mood stabiliser, providing feelings of wellbeing and happiness. It also promotes a healthy sleep cycle and aids digestion.

Serotonin production fluctuates with the seasons, with higher concentrations being produced in the body in late summer and autumn than in winter and spring in the Western world. The reason for these fluctuations are not completely understood but one strong hypothesis suggests that the skin is responsible for the majority of serotonin production and therefore, as the skin is exposed to less sunshine in the colder months, less serotonin is produced in the body.

So… The more sunlight I can get, the more joyful I will generally feel! I outlined in my post on Dr Kelly Turner’s research that increasing positive emotions has been identified as one of the nine key healing factors so that makes sunlight exposure even more vital to healing.

Better Sleep:

Sun exposure on the skin produces the chemical melanin, which is needed to produce the hormone melatonin. Melatonin is necessary to maintain the daily circadian rhythms of the body, rhythms that are essential for regulating sleep.

Reduced Weight:

Some preliminary studies (here and here) suggest that vitamin D supplementation reduces body fat. However, this meta analysis suggests that Vitamin D is not associated with weight loss. Therefore, the impact of Vitamin D on weight loss is unclear and any mechanism by which this occurs is also unclear. It may, for example, be due to better sleep regulation, rather than a direct effect on fat cells. However, for my healing journey, the less excess weight I carry, the less insulin resistance I will have and Vitamin D at safe levels may help.

Better Mental Health:

Vitamin D supplementation has been found to reduce anxiety and improve mood in female diabetic patients. However, Vitamin D has not been found to impact depression.

Improved Cell Proliferation and Differentiation:

Vitamin D has also been found to play a key role in the process of cell proliferation and differentiation in the human body. As I intend to encourage more beta cell proliferation and also conversion (differentiation!) of my delta cells to beta cells, Vitamin D is crucial to my healing journey!

Reduced Inflammation:

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to an increase in body-wide inflammation. I believe that inflammation increases insulin resistance and decreases healing. It is something I continually strive to minimise in my body.

Summary

In this blog post, I have discussed how important vitamin D is for health and healing in Type 1 Diabetes. For Type 1 Diabetes specifically, I highlighted how vitamin D has been shown to improve blood sugar control, reduce insulin resistance, prevent development of Type 1 Diabetes. I continued by outlining three sources of vitamin D – food, supplements and sunshine. I discussed why I felt sunlight was the preferable source for vitamin D production and the many benefits additional to vitamin D production that sunlight provides. In my next blog post, I will talk more about ensuring adequate sun exposure in a safe manner and how I am incorporating this into my life.

Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

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August 30, 2021

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Art Is Calling My Name!

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

At the moment, I am really called to being creative. Art, more specifically creating art, is calling my name. I see this as a good sign. As Rachel Remen highlights, there is a deep connection between healing and creativity. I believe that the divine source inside ourselves is naturally creative. As I heal and become more of my authentic self, I reclaim those creative parts of myself that have been absent or denied.

As I welcome this part of myself back into the fold, I am drawn to thinking about people I have come to know about during my healing journey that have also used art and creativity to heal themselves…

Carl Jung

I know that, as the psychoanalyst and healer Carl Jung proceeded along his healing journey, he became highly creative. It didn’t only result in the impressive volumes of psychiatric theory that still influences nearly all areas of psychotherapy today. It also resulted in Jung’s magnus opus – the Red Book. The Red Book is a beautifully decorative and artistic book of his journey into his inner world as he transformed himself, his healing and his relationship to his spirituality. Art was a central component of his healing and life’s work.

Alice Miller - Psychoanalyst, Author and Artist

Alice Miller trained as a psychoanalyst in her early thirties. She worked successfully in the field for twenty years. However, in 1987, Alice announced her outright rejection of psychoanalytic practice in a German magazine called Psychologie Heute (Psychology Today). She felt that the theory behind psychoanalytic practice actually prevented survivors of childhood abuse from being able to recognise and reconcile their abuse, instead holding the parents as sacrosanct and blaming the child for their fantasies.

Having turned away from psychoanalysis, Alice Miller found healing in art. She painted a multitude of paintings in the latter half of her life and published the book “Pictures of My Life” as an expose of how she reconciled her own trauma through artwork.

Gabor Maté: Scattered Minds

Gabor Maté, the renowned physician and healer, first interested me with his book ‘Scattered Minds‘ because of my own challenges with AD(H)D. However, as I have read more of his works, I have come to realise that this physician is actually more of a healer than a psychiatrist. He works with multiple healing modalities, for both himself and his patients. In his outstanding book ‘Scattered Minds’, he outlines several strategies useful to healing ADD, one of which is creative expression. In his own words… ‘Essential to finding meaning and purpose in life is the liberation of one’s creative instincts’ (Gabor Maté, Scattered Minds, 1999, pp. 289-290).

Stacy Solodkin - Cancer Survivor and Artist

Stacy Solodkin is an actor, artist, wife, friend and cancer survivor. She first came to my attention through the Heal Community. (There’s a great interview here on her journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZAvpYNXfJI.) What particularly interested me about her healing journey was how she returned to her artwork, transitioning back to a place where she was making her artwork for herself and her own soul.

My Own Healing Journey

My own history with art followed a long and unpredictable route. I loved to draw as a young child. I was truly creative, more interested in doing arts and crafts than most other forms of play. As I became an older child, the play and genuine love of all things arty was replaced by a realisation of inadequacy, incompleteness, just being ‘not good’ at it. My older brother was a natural born artist. He could draw beautiful portraits and still life in a way that, even in my memory today, astounds me. In retrospect, I guess I could look back and say that he was the Leonardo da Vinci and I was more of a Picasso. I just didn’t understand that they were both beautiful forms of art.

So I lost my way with art and stopped doing it. I grew up and became serious. I lost my sense of play. It wasn’t until I was about a year into therapy that my creativity woke up. I was struggling in therapy. I had hit a wall. I couldn’t express what I was trying to say in words. No words seemed to match my experiences so I took to art to try to express my depths. I recovered a part of me that gave me joy, expression, meaning and focus. The pictures were usually dark and difficult to sit with, but they provided me with such relief. The pictures that came to me at that time didn’t feel like they came from me. They were already complete when they entered my mind and it was purely my job to replicate them on the paper in front of me.

After I finished therapy, I didn’t feel drawn to do much art. I enjoyed doing various crafting projects but that was about it. But, recently, as I have been focussing more intently on my healing work, the passion for art has reawoken in me again. I am currently working my way through an abstract painting course that I bought online by the Australian artist Tracy Verdugo It is really good fun and I’m getting a lot of fulfilment out of it!

I think I’m coming to understand that reclaiming my creativity is part of the healing journey. It’s about learning to love yourself, through loving your art, even if you want to reach for judgement about what you’ve just created.

Maybe art and creativity will also become part of my life’s work. I don’t know. All I know is that I am drawn to it (pun intended!) and I am enjoying it. I truly believe that joy is a true healer so any way that increases the joy further in my life is welcomed. I’ll see where it takes me from here!

Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

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August 23, 2021

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Exercise / Increasing Positive Emotions / Physical Wellbeing

The Curative Effects of Swimming

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

So now, at this point in my healing journey, I am turning my attention towards exercise.

I think we all know the general benefits of exercising… Lower weight, better blood pressure, improved mental health, lower risk of heart problems, and so on… Basically, exercise gives you a longer and better quality of life. So I’m not going to try to sell you on the general idea of exercise. I’m going to assume you’ve already received that telegram!

Exercise as a Tool for Healing

I’m more specifically interested in what exercise might do for healing Type 1 Diabetes. Dr Kelly Turner highlights in her book ‘Radical Hope’ that exercise is also a crucial component of a healing journey. I also know that the two ex-Type 1 Diabetics Daniel Darkes and Johan Kotze both place great importance on exercise in their daily lives. Daniel Darkes is an ultra-marathon runner. Johan Kotze enjoys CrossFit and circuit classes.

So it would be pretty obvious that, at this point, I can just conclude this post by saying ‘Right, I’m going to run a long way regularly and do circuit classes. See ya!’. The thing is… I HATE running! And I’m not sure my body can do it any more either. I used to run. I even trained for a marathon in my twenties but, in the process of doing that, my leg broke and I got a blood clot. A kindly physiotherapist at the time told me that some bodies are just not designed for running and maybe I was one of those…!! I might have been adamantly against that sentiment at the time but I’ve grown to agree with her now, although for a very different reason. My reason is… I just don’t like it. And Dr Kelly Turner highlighted in her first book ‘Radical Remission‘ that it is important to increase positive emotions and remove negative/repressed emotions. So running flies in the face of that. I started to look for an alternative.

Finding My Form of Exercise

I knew that I needed to find something that I could enjoy as well as challenge my cardio fitness. I also knew that I wanted it to be an activity based in nature. I believe that nature is deeply healing and gets our bodies to reset back to the way they’re actually supposed to work. I have always found that to be true for my mental health. When I’m all wound-up and stressed out, taking a walk in nature brings me right back to myself again. I suspect the power of nature works the same way for the physical body.

My first thought was to walk. It has a tonne of really great benefits without putting any part of the human anatomy (knees, lungs, heart) under unnecessary stress. But I suspected that in itself might be a problem. If it’s not stressing the cardio system, I won’t be exercising similarly to Daniel and Johan. On top of that, I live in a city so there’s not a lot of readily available nature around me. I would have to travel quite a distance to get somewhere nature-based and that would probably involve me walking in the desert. Anyone up for insane amounts of dehydration?! Yeah, me neither!

My next thought was the gym. I love lifting heavy weights, it makes me feel like superman. I have been to the gym off and on for years. A few months ago, I was attending regularly and, in a pretty short period of time, made some impressive improvements in the amount I could lift and felt like this was it for me! I also did back-to-back exercises so that kept my heart rate up too. But, after a while, I realised that I was coming away from each workout feeling extremely pumped up and a bit, well, edgy and aggressive. I was ready to fight. Weightlifting seemed to put me into a fight-or-flight mode, with the emphasis on fight. That just didn’t sit well with me. I wanted something that would reduce the inflammation, the fight-and-flight in my system, not increase it! So I stopped doing that. I needed to find something else.

Interestingly, I just found a passage in Dr Kelly Turner’s book ‘Radical Hope’ that adds weight to my intuitive stance that weightlifting is not good for my healing. In the book, there is a case study of a woman called Mary, who used to be a competitive weightlifter. She subsequently got diagnosed with cancer and then proceeded to heal herself from it. When deciding on what exercise to do as part of her healing work, she chose to avoid the weightlifting and instead chose yoga and gentle rebounding on a trampoline. She said she felt that going back to the gym was not right for her healing. My intuition seems to be agreeing with hers!

My Choice of Exercise: Swimming

Both Daniel Darkes and Johan Kotze chose exercise formats that kept them moving and on-the-go. They effectively put themselves into flight mode (in the fight-or-flight response) during their training. So I had to pick something that enabled movement. I also wanted to choose something that I could do year-round. I live very close to a swimming pool so thought that might be a good option. It is a form of movement, it challenges my cardio system, it can be nature-based (when swimming outside) and is less likely to put unnecessary strain on my body, in the way that running did for me.

The thing is… I’m not very good at swimming! As a kid, my parents quite rightly insisted that I learnt to swim. So I went along every Wednesday afternoon when school finished to learn to swim. I hated it!! I kept asking my parents again and again if I could stop. And again and again they said no. In the end, my parents said that I had to keep going until I could swim 50 metres. They felt that would make me an adequate enough swimmer to keep me safe around water. The day I hit that target, I left my lessons and didn’t go back. The result was an adult who felt comfortable enough in water but swam slowly. I was the ‘doing-breaststroke-without-getting-my-face-or-hair-wet’ kind of swimmer!! I was functional in the water but it could not, in any vein, be considered aerobic exercise.

Four months ago, I changed that. I decided, at the ripe old age of 41, to take swimming lessons! I hoped to get more confident in my ability to swim, improve my stroke and get myself fast enough to actually challenge my lungs! It worked. I am now swimming 30 lengths of front crawl twice a week at my local pool. I feel proud of myself and I’m looking forward to improving more still.

Swimming in the Sea

Now that I feel I have a certain amount of prowess in the water(!), I have decided to take on my next personal challenge… Sea swimming. I wanted to escape from the chlorine and other chemicals in the pool environment and instead take myself to a more natural, and therefore more healing, environment.

I live pretty close to the sea so I felt that sea swimming would be a great option. This week, with my newly-gained swimming ability, I went and swam in the sea. I was terrified! I thought I might be dragged out to sea my some unseen current or be eaten by that Great White Shark that no one knew was in the water!! But it was actually fabulous. Being in such a wonderfully healing and natural environment just resonated with some part of me that had been thirsting for something unspoken. My self-confidence and self-esteem have also increased by taking on this challenge and facing this irrational fear of mine.

I hope to swim in the sea at least once a week now. It feels restorative. It feels good!

Health Benefits of Sea Swimming

It turns out that my intuitive pull towards swimming in the sea actually comes with great merit. It turns out that the sea environment can reduce stress, promote deep sleep and relax the body. Furthermore, Wallace J. Nichols highlights in his book ‘Blue Mind‘ that swimming actually stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system – the system that is engaged when the body is not in fight-or-flight and is responsible for resting and repairing the body. This is the mode in which healing takes place.

The sea is also rich in a wide range of vitamins and minerals, including magnesium. Magnesium is an important nutrient for Type 1 Diabetes. I will talk about this in a later post but, for now, I will simply state that people with diabetes are likely to have lower magnesium levels due to insulin resistance and/or excessive loss due to fluctuating insulin sensitivities. Moreover, increased magnesium intake is associated with better blood sugar control. So, if it’s available to you, go and paddle in the sea!

Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

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July 12, 2021

Read more about the article The Curative Effects of Swimming

Increasing Positive Emotions

40th Anniversary of Diabetes!

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

Happy Diaversary to me!!

Today is my 40th anniversary of life with diabetes. It feels like a really epic milestone. I’m taking a moment to think back to all the challenges, the daily grind of blood sugar control, the medicines I used to use, all that’s changed over all the years.

At the risk of sounding really old(!), I’m recalling my early childhood with diabetes when you had to boil glass syringes to sterilise them, when there were no such things as blood-testing machines (anyone else remember those little coloured strips that you used to test your blood?!) and weeing on test strips for all kinds of medical purposes was really à la mode!! I remember the beds for children in hospitals that consisted of metal bars all around the perimeter.. My mum and dad thought that I was going to die on the day I was diagnosed. I was really, really sick. Then the diagnosis came and the dawning realisation of what a life with diabetes would actually look like. It wasn’t easy and I’m not going to pretend it was. There were some really, really tough times.

But I’m also remembering all that I’ve got to enjoy over the years. I have ridden horses, skydived, scuba dived, got a motorcycle licence, travelled the world, got married, had a daughter. And, most importantly, I have good health. I get to enjoy my life in the way that I want. My diabetes is secondary to that. Sure, I do the daily grind of injections and blood tests. I do the hospital appointments and check-ups and calls to the doctor when things just aren’t going right. I get it right, I get it wrong, I try again. But I survive and thrive. On my fortieth anniversary, I give thanks for that.

Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

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June 20, 2021

Read more about the article 40th Anniversary of Diabetes!

Exercise / Hydration / Increasing Positive Emotions / Nutrition / Spirituality / Taking Control of My Health / Yoga

Bedtime Routine

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

The Bedtime Routine. I don’t know why I have resisted this concept for such a long, long time. It could be that it’s because I’m a night owl. I love those deeply quiet and restful hours of the early morning when the world is asleep and peaceful. Or it could be because, as a parent, those few hours after the little ones are asleep seem so short and so full of possibility.

Whatever the reason, I resisted and resisted giving my evening hours to something as structured as a ‘routine’. It felt onerous and long-winded and, well, just hard work at the end of a long day. But I knew that it was a brilliant time to be working on healing, rather than my total number of accumulated telly hours, so I took the plunge. And, as is my way, I went at it with full force…!

Designing My Bedtime Routine

I considered many options for my bedtime routine. Audiobooks, reading, baths (with or without essential oils, epsom salts and all other kinds of healing products), hydration, reflections on my day, gratitudes, affirmations, yoga, stretching, journalling, diffusing essential oils, facial cleansing routines, drinking herbal teas and so on…!

I started to realise that, if I didn’t narrow down my to-do list, I would actually still be awake in the early hours of the morning but, this time, it would be because I was still slogging through my bedtime routine! I decided to trust my intuition on this and go with what I felt drawn towards. Some things jumped out at me immediately…

Yoga Stretches (10 minutes)

I felt some yoga stretches before bed sounded great. I love yoga and always feel restored and relaxed after spending some time on the mat. However, it’s something I only seem to do sporadically these days so the idea of incorporating that into a daily routine ticked both boxes. So yoga was in.

Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise (5 minutes)

My appearance, and more importantly how I feel about my appearance, has become more important to me over the preceding months. I have never really invested in my skin and have always found beauty regimes to be too much effort for too little output. But a simple cleansing and moisturising routine felt doable. So that made the list.

Brush and Floss Teeth (5 minutes)

Of course, dental hygiene goes without saying! I would like to have teeth when I get to old age and diabetics are at increased risk for a whole host of dental problems, including being more prone to gum disease. As part of my intention to reduce toxins in my life, I considered using herbal toothpaste. I actually started this and bought a well-known brand. However, within three months of using this, I was found to have my first ever filling. Perhaps coincidence, perhaps not. But I didn’t want to risk any more problems so I’ve scrubbed that idea and gone back to standard toothpaste. So… Teeth brushing (with a standard toothpaste!), check. Flossing, check.

A Glass of Water (1 minute)

Hydration. So, as you know, I now live in an extremely hot desert climate so hydration is on my mind at all hours! I never used to drinking water at night because it often disrupted my sleep due to much needed loo break. However, out here, I am now waking up each morning feeling very thirsty and that doesn’t create a good bodily environment for healing. A glass of water is now part of my night-time ritual.

Gratitudes (5 minutes)

I tried to make a gratitude practice part of my morning routine but I struggled to name lots of things I was grateful for when I’d just staggered out of bed! I always seemed able to remember to be grateful for my sleep but that was about it!! I hope that, by making this part of my evening routine, I will be able to reflect on my day and all the wonderful moments in it. I hope it will therefore strengthen and deepen my gratitude practice. For now, I will start with three gratitudes every night.

Prayer (1 minute)

How much did I resist prayer in my life?? Wow, it has hardcore! For years, I didn’t want to pray to a god that I felt had cursed me with diabetes. I didn’t feel He/She deserved as much as a hello from me! I think that the addition of prayer into my night-time routine shows just how far I have come on my healing journey already. I don’t have any set format for praying. I just treat it as a time for me and God to talk, for me to say whatever’s on my mind and, when I can, offer gratitude for all that He/She has done for me and given me.

Plan for the next day (18 minutes)

i have been getting more into self-development lately and I have heard again and again the phrase ‘those who fail to plan, plan to fail’. I don’t know how much that is true but I do know that, on the days that I have made a plan for my time, I get a whole lot more done than on the days when I don’t plan. So planning is in there. But please note that this is not an all-out plan-every-minute kind of thing. It’s more ‘these are the things I want to get done and what is the best order I can do it in’. If I plotted every minute of my day, I dissolve into a stress heap when I got five minutes behind schedule. That isn’t good for creating a stress-free environment for my healing to take place!

Reading Fiction (15 minutes)

Ah, reading! I love reading!! I have found that, as my healing journey continues, I seem to be devoting more and more of my time to reading factual books about healing. Consequently, less and less of my time is devoted to reading fiction. I feel the balance between work and play is important in life so time needs to be made for enjoyment and relaxation. Reading fiction answers this call for me. Moreover, a gentle story sets me up well to drift off into the land of nod so I have added 15 minutes of reading fiction to my plan.

Finishing Touches

Once I’d worked out what I wanted to include in my bedtime routine, I then had to figure out how long to allocated to each item (see above). I didn’t want to spend more than an hour on my routine so I allocated that hour according to how long I felt each activity would realistically take. I might have to adjust as time goes on.

Then, the last thing to do was decide the order of the activities. I decided I would start in my bathroom as this was the furthest from my bed. That meant doing my ‘cleanse, tone and moisturise face’ and ‘brush and floss teeth’ first. I followed those with my yoga stretches in my bedroom, since these needed to be completed before I could get into bed. Then, from the comfort of my bed, I chose to plan my day first. I knew that this activity would wake my brain up a bit and I needed to save some more calming, less engaging activities for after that. I therefore follow my planning with my glass of water, gratitudes and prayer. I complete the routine with reading my fiction book for fifteen minutes and then turn the light off. Job done! Night night, sleep well.

A Couple of Extra Things...

You might have noticed that I have added candlelight to my skincare routine and sound frequencies to my yoga stretches. The reason for the candlelight is due to something I read in the book ‘Sleep by Nick Littlehales’. He discusses the importance of avoiding bright light on the run-up to bedtime. I really recommend that book if you need to improve the quantity and/or quality of your sleep!

The reason for the sound frequencies is a little less delineated in my mind. I have been hearing great things about the healing qualities of sound frequencies and so I have started to experiment with solfeggio frequencies. Because of the link diabetes has to past trauma and the solar plexus chakra, I am focussing on the frequency of 417 Hz. At the moment, the only time I play solfeggio frequencies is during these ten minutes that I’m doing my bedtime yoga poses. But it’s a start!

Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

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June 14, 2021

Read more about the article Bedtime Routine

Emotional Wellbeing / Favourites / Increasing Positive Emotions / Releasing Suppressed Emotions / Spirituality

The Neuroscience of Diabetes

Showing How Neuroscience Highlights The Fundamental Connection Between Emotions and Physical Health

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

Candace Pert’s ‘Molecules of Emotion’ profoundly shifted my perspective on Type 1 Diabetes, revealing its mental and physical connections through neuropeptides. Her research on peptides bridging emotions and bodily functions challenges conventional views, suggesting holistic treatment integrating mental health and physical care is crucial for natural healing.

Candace Pert’s book ‘Molecules of Emotion’ [1] has revolutionised my understanding of my Type 1 Diabetes. I first read this book whilst I was at university (as a mature student!!) and was blown away by the concepts in it. This book truly inspired me to start thinking that healing Type 1 Diabetes is possible.

Who Was Candace Pert?

Candace Pert was an American neuroscientist who was most famous for having discovered the opiate receptor in the brain. This receptor is the place where endorphin – a type of neuropeptide responsible for feelings of euphoria, pain cessation and analgesia, amongst others – binds in the human body in order to become effective. Through her discovery in the 1970s, the field of neuroscience was transformed. Until then, it was assumed that peptides and their receptors were only found in the body – in the bloodstream and cerebrospinal fluid. For many years, Candace Pert held highly esteemed research positions with the National Institute of Health. Here, she further explored and developed the scientific knowledge of the peptide system and how emotions work in the human brain and body.

The Psychosomatic Network

Candace Pert’s research focused on a particular kind of molecule in the body called ‘peptides’. Peptides are small molecules that are made up of a string of amino acids.

Peptides were originally thought to exist only in the body and were responsible for communicating messages from one part of the body to another, potentially far-reaching, part. However, Pert and her team have identified that these molecules in fact exist in both the brain and body and can even be produced in the brain itself [1].

Indeed, this is the case for insulin. Insulin, as I discussed in my article here, was originally thought of as a hormone that was produced solely in the pancreas and solely for use in the digestive system to break down food into glucose to be used or stored. However, insulin and insulin receptors have now also been found in the brain, although the source of the insulin (whether from the brain or the body) remains unclear [2, 3].

The idea of the brain running on neurons and the body running on peptides is now defunct. In its place, Pert and colleagues [4] outlined the concept of a psychosomatic network, which is powered by peptides. In this network, peptides are the messengers that take information from one part of the body to another, where they are received onto receptors on cells that adapt their output in response to the information received.

Emotions In The Psychosomatic Network

Pert has conducted a large amount of research on the role of neuropeptides in the brain, particularly in the limbic system. The limbic system is responsible for attachment, affect regulation and aspects of emotional processing.

Two of the main components of the limbic system are the amygdala and the hypothalamus. These two brain regions have been found to have neuropeptide receptors that exist in a density forty times higher than that in other areas of the brain [5].

Pert [6] therefore hypothesises that neuropeptides are the ‘obvious candidates for the biochemical mediation of emotion’. She further suggests that, since these neuropeptides are found distributed throughout the body and in all of the major organs, body and emotions are highly interlinked via these neuropeptides. Pert [1] therefore believed that the mind and body could not be understood as distinct entities but were, instead, part of one system that she named the ‘bodymind’.

Emotions Influencing The Immune System

What is particularly interesting for me is when Pert [5] discusses how she can no longer differentiate between not only the mind (emotions) and the body, but also between this combined psychosomatic (brain/body) network and the immune system. Neuropeptides have been found to penetrate the immune system, as much as the endocrine and nervous systems, existing in mutual close physical and communicative contact [7].

Specifically, emotion-affecting neuropeptides, like insulin, have been found to directly control the routing and migration of monocytes, which are pivotal in the immune system. One of the roles of monocytes is to communicate with beta cells, which are responsible for making insulin in the pancreas.

Indeed, Pert [1] discusses how the cells of the immune system also possess receptors for neuropeptides and also make the neuropeptides themselves. In other words, the cells of the immune system are also producing and receiving the chemicals that are responsible for emotion.

Insulin As A Peptide

As I discussed in my post here, insulin has now been re-identified as a neuropeptide [8]. Pert [1] outlines two reasons for this:

Insulin works in the body via the pancreas and this is a location where neuropeptide receptors have been found.
In the brain, insulin has been found to be received by insulin receptors in the limbic system, namely the amygdala and hypothalamus.

Thus, insulin can, like other peptides, now be seen to directly link emotions and the body in a bi-directional relationship.

Peptides Link The Mind And The Body

Neuroscience has proven that the mind and body are not disconnected entities but are, in fact, intrinsically related via the peptide network. This network brings emotions and the body into a direct relationship with each other.

Emotional strain, stress and trauma will have an impact on the body. Similarly, disequilibrium in the body (due to toxicity or illness, for example) will impact the emotions. Peptides are the units that carry this emotional information between the body and the mind. Insulin, being a peptide, therefore carries this emotional information bi-directionally between the body and mind.

Candace Pert in fact hypothesises that each separate emotion could in fact be linked to a particular peptide. Science has yet to prove this but, if it turns out to be true, the search would need to start to find out what emotion insulin is associated with. For example, does insulin production stop (or start) depending on the amount of happiness, sadness, anger or fear a person has? And is there a lack or excess of a particular emotion that causes or contributes to the development of Type 1 Diabetes?

The link between the physical body and the emotions is actually not a new idea. In the 1960s, Solomon & Moos [8] challenged the prevalent Cartesian dichotomy by highlighting how emotional states can significantly alter the course and outcome of biological illnesses previously considered to be purely somatic. However, whilst other autoimmune conditions were considered, diabetes was not under the microscope in that piece of research.

Understanding Type 1 Diabetes Anew

Candace Pert’s [1] neuroscientific work highlights how Type 1 Diabetes can no longer be understood as a purely physical condition. The body and mind are interrelated and therefore diabetes, like every condition that involves peptides, has both physical and mental components. This is really no surprise to the majority of diabetics. I myself know how the amount of insulin (and therefore the amount of glucose in my bloodstream) directly impacts my emotions. When I have high blood sugars, I am often angry. When I have low blood sugars, I can become tearful and feel unlovable.

Candace Pert’s work and my own personal experience strongly suggest to me that, in order to heal Type 1 Diabetes naturally, a combined mental and physical treatment plan must be implemented. Therefore, my approach to healing my Type 1 Diabetes will be multifaceted. Alongside the physical processes that I will be implementing over the next year or so, I also take care of my mental health via psychotherapy. I originally undertook it when I started suffering from anxiety and depression in my teenage years. I am now mainly free of anxiety and depression. However, I now use the therapeutic space to explore ways to heal my Type 1 Diabetes. I will talk about that more in a later post.

References:

Pert, C. B. (1997). Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel. London & Sydney: Simon & Schuster. [LINK]
Brüning, J. C., Gautam, D., Burks, D. J., et al. (2000). Role of brain insulin receptor in control of body weight and reproduction. Science, 289, 2122–2125. [LINK]
Pert, C. B., Ruff, M. R., Weber, R. J., & Herkenham, M. (1985). Neuropeptides and their Receptors: A Psychosomatic Network. Journal of Immunology, 135(2), 820s-826s. [LINK]
Pert, C. B. (2002). The Wisdom of the Receptors: Neuropeptides, the Emotions, and Bodymind. Advances in Mind-Body Medicine, 18(1), 30-35. [LINK]
Pert, C. B. (1997). Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel. London & Sydney: Simon & Schuster, p. 33. [LINK]
Blalock, J. E., Harbour-McMenamin, D., & Smith, E. M. (1985). Peptide hormones shared by the neuroendocrine and immunologic systems. Journal of Immunology, 135(2), 858-861. [LINK]
Hendricks, S. A., Roth, J., Rishi, S., & Becker, K. L. (1983). Insulin in the Nervous System. In: D. T. Krieger, J. B. Martin, & M. J. Brownstein (Eds.), Brain Peptides. New York: John Wiley & Sons. [LINK]
Solomon, G.F., & Moos, R.H. (1964). Emotions, immunity, and disease: A speculative theoretical integration. Archives of General Psychiatry, 11, 657-674. [LINK]

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Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

Recent Comments:

latestModapks on Daniel Darkes
Natalie Leader on Daniel Darkes
Senna on Daniel Darkes
Sandra on High Blood Pressure
Natalie Leader on What Is Type 1 Diabetes REALLY?

2 Comments

September 16, 2019