In a break from my usual postings, this one is a stream of consciousness diatribe on my person experiences. Please indulge my musings since I'm nearing the half-century mark of living (well) with type 1 diabetes. I got diabetes back in the Dark Ages (1968) of its treatment. The only feedback I had on my blood glucose levels was testing my urine, which was several hours behind my actual levels and no reflection on my immediate levels. I never had a number to go with a bright o

Much of the research on length of life for individuals living with type 1 diabetes is pessimist, which makes a new study released recently a breath of fresh air. Data were collected for the ongoing nationwide, multicenter, Finnish Diabetic Nephropathy (FinnDiane) Study that tracked the death rate of 2,639 study participants for an average of 11.4 ± 3.5 years (1). In this study, participants’ leisure time physical activity was reported via a self-report questionnaire. Importan

I would like to share some of my personal story about why physical activity matters to me and how I have lived successfully with type 1 diabetes for almost 50 years to date. My success with diabetes is undoubtedly related to my decision to be physically active. The secret to my overall success, both professional and personal, is that I made a conscious choice to live my life by one guiding principle: Live life first, and be diabetic second. In the beginning, I’m not sure it w

If you could take fewer medications and/or lower insulin doses, what would it be worth to you? For many of us with diabetes, there is nothing we value more than good health. In a very real sense, exercise is medicine—actually eliciting better health than prescribed medications in many cases. Being physically active can help prevent obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes (or “double diabetes” if you have type 1), and other chronic conditions that plague people with diabetes m