And The Added Benefits Of Sea Swimming
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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
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.
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.
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!
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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.
