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What is jet lag?

  • What is jet lag?

    This passage was taken from AmericanHospitals.com website. Hope you find the information below useful…


    It is nothing more than a confused body “clock”. The more time zones your body crosses, the further behind your body clock lags. Some symptoms include dizziness, headaches, and sore muscles, and physiological processes are out of sync. For example, you may be wide awake at 3:00 a.m. and hungry at 3:00 in the afternoon.

    What factors influence the severity of jet lag?

  • The direction you travel: Traveling east usually produces more severe jet lag than west.
  • The number of time zones you cross; each time zone you cross multiplies the effect of jet lag.
  • Stress
  • The quality of your flight: low humidity, excessive noise and vibration, turbulence, sitting for long periods, and a warm, stuffy atmosphere can compound the effects of jet lag.
  • How much you drink: If you drink or eat more than you normally would before, during or after your flight, you may be asking for discomfort.
  • How much caffeine you consume; the caffeine in coffee and soft drinks can ward off the initial fatigue, but will only intensify the effects of jet lag later on.
  • How can I prepare my body for jet lag?

  • Try to schedule your flight according to the direction you are traveling. Book an early flight if you are traveling east, an afternoon or evening flight if traveling west.
  • Adjust your schedule before you leave. Go to bed earlier and get up earlier three days before your trip if you are heading east, and later if heading west.
  • Consult your physician about a jet lag diet. Also, many health food stores sell special “anti-jet lag” vitamin and amino acid products, but there is no clinical evidence that proves their effectiveness.
  • During your flight, you can minimize the effects of jet lag by drinking plenty of fluids, eating light meals, wearing loose-fitting clothing to reduce stress, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, doing simple isometric exercises, and, if all else fails, keeping your home schedule while traveling.
    Happy Travelling…

Using Your Glucose Meter

Using Your Glucose Meter

Diabetes care should be designed for each individual patient. Some patients may need to test (monitor) more often than others do. How often you use your glucose meter should be based on the recommendation of your health care provider. Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is recommended for all people with diabetes, but especially for those who take insulin. The role of SMBG has not been defined for people with stable type 2 diabetes treated only with diet.

As a general rule, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends that most patients with type 1 diabetes test glucose three or more times per day. Pregnant women taking insulin for gestational diabetes should test two times per day. ADA does not specify how often people with type 2 diabetes should test their glucose, but testing often helps control.

Often, self-monitoring plans direct you to test your blood sugar before meals, 2 hours after meals, at bedtime, at 3 a.m., and anytime you experience signs or symptoms. You should test more often when you change medications, when you have unusual stress or illness, or in other unusual circumstances.


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Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose

Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose

The process of monitoring one's own blood glucose with a glucose meter is often referred to as self-monitoring of blood glucose or "SMBG."

Portable glucose meters are small battery-operated devices. For a picture of a portable blood glucose meter, use the following link:

Blood Glucose Meter--Medical Encyclopedia--Illustration
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/presentations/100220_1.htm

To test for glucose with a typical glucose meter, place a small sample of blood on a disposable "test strip" and place the strip in the meter. The test strips are coated with chemicals (glucose oxidase, dehydrogenase, or hexokinase) that combine with glucose in blood. The meter measures how much glucose is present. Meters do this in different ways. Some measure the amount of electricity that can pass through the sample. Others measure how much light reflects from it. The meter displays the glucose level as a number. Several new models can record and store a number of test results. Some models can connect to personal computers to store test results or print them out.