Before the pandemic, what seems almost in another life, I was pre-diabetic with blood sugar levels very close to tipping into diabetic levels. Among my recent efforts to better look after myself I have been trying to watch what I eat and improve the variety of my diet – difficult when I am terribly fussy.
I have been monitoring my blood sugar this week and am glad to say it is well within a normal range, but a consequence of the testing has been really paying attention to what I eat and when. I've tried some new things (some I still don't like) but, more importantly, have not been snacking between meals. The regular testing regime really focuses the mind in this regard and I've lost weight as a consequence. There's a long way to go but it's a start.
My memory has been all over the place for a while (my family have been worried) but the major causes in people of my age are what I have dubbed "The Four Horsemen of the Memocalypse":
- diet
- exercise (lack of)
- stress
- depression
The first two I can immediately do something about and that may even have a knock-on effect on the last. The third, however, will only be reduced when I can find a new role closer to home. Options are limited in no small part by my required salary. One of our team is leaving which means that I will soon start having to return to the office on a semi-regular basis – not ideal when it is 250 miles away.
We moved during lockdown with what we imagined to be plenty of time to sort everything out. That hasn't gone exactly to plan. We followed a dream that we are not going to surrender without a fight, but it is getting harder to see how things will be resolved without considerably ramping up the stress levels.
