Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Consistency is key

There’s nothing like facing your own mortality to spur people into action. As our group of friends head into our late 30s, the returning results of an annual checkup can start to look not so good in certain areas. I myself found out I was pre-diabetic just last year. Another friend recently learned he’s got high cholesterol. Yet another friend started exercising consistently after a lifetime of not doing so. Certainly he’s received some not so good news from his doctor.

I’ve increased my workout amount since my pre-diabetic diagnosis. The friend with the cholesterol issue has also vowed to get more active. It’s truly better late than never! Honestly, late 30s are not really all that late, however self-serving that is for me to say.

The key I hope my friends come to realize is what matters most is consistency. You can have the best, most scientifically-sound exercise routine in the world, but it would result in nothing if not followed through. You know: routine. That means doing something over and over for a long period of time. Even if it’s something as simple as walking three miles a day, everyday. If someone does that consistently for a year, I bet the results would be very positive.

Anything worthwhile takes a long time. We cannot escape putting in the work. Our social-media culture has conditioned us with dopamine ADD: we want results now. So we look for shortcuts, instead of simply putting our heads to the proverbial grind stone. Just look at the popularity of Ozempic: a diabetes drug with the wondrous side-effect of rapid weight loss. We can shed the pounds without changing diet and any exercising? Sign me up! Paying $800 per month is way better than working out, which is free.

Before you quit something, ask yourself, “Have I done this for a long enough time, consistently?”

I like eggs

Are there eggs available for purchase at your local grocery store? Reads like there’s an Avian flu outbreak amongst the chickens in California, and the supply of eggs is threatened (and chickens-related food products too, presumably). All appears to be fine at our local Whole Foods this past Saturday, and supply at Costco looks to be healthy that Sunday as well. But, as a daily eater of eggs, I bought more than usual at Whole Foods, just in case.

Eggs are obviously an excellent source of protein. Since my high hemoglobin A1C results from last October, I’ve been eating scrambled eggs as a substitute for white rice (mostly the dinner meal). At a rate of at least two eggs per day, I go through the supply quite quickly. Be that as it may, I still do not buy in larger bulk from Costco. I greatly prefer the eggs from organic-fed, free-range chickens. Those are only available at the likes of Whole Foods. It may be the money talking, but I can definitely taste the difference.

Not that I am the stuck-up picky type. I don’t go to my friends’ homes and lament they only buy non-organic eggs. I’ll eat them all the same.

I asked my mother whether or not she stocked up on eggs, in case of imminent shortage. She said they (my parents) do not eat much eggs, so didn’t feel the need to do so. I reminded her that eggs are great for protein, and that she and father should eat more protein now that they are both retired. I feel like I’m going to be a broken record, the nagging parent (how the turntables) when it comes impelling my parents to eat more protein (and less carbs). It’s such a crucial nutrient as they age into their golden years.

We have to eat our proteins, too. Sure hope the egg supply stays consistent through this mini crisis!

What is sleep?

As I’m listening to this podcast episode about sleep this morning, I am reminded of just how little my housemates have been getting these past months. Ever since their twin boys were born last September, both parents have been running on four hours of sleep per night. I cannot comprehend how they do it. The last time I only got four hours of sleep (had to pick up a friend after the Taylor Swift concert), I was in a suboptimal daze for the entire week following.

Either I am weak, or, you know, proper amounts of sleep is the best thing for our body that pharmaceuticals can’t hope to replicate.

But, as new parents, my friends got to do what they got to do. Though it’s not really good advertising to entice others to have kids. So you’re telling me: the babies will cry every few hours (like PTSD), I only get few hours of sleep a night - therefore my body don’t have the necessary time to repair itself, my stress levels are through the roof, and my diet is absolute super-processed shit. All for the privilege of bring a new life into this world. Honorable, but damn if it looks like not so good a time.

Life is a big game of tradeoffs. That aforementioned is the sacrifice required to have kids. Just like if you want to date and get married, then some of your leisure activities will have to go. One quite literally cannot have it all. You drill down to the few things most important, and then focus on them solely. Once kids arrive, then obviously something - a lot of something - else is no longer in the “most important’ category. Like sleep, or traveling to foreign countries for fun.

Thankfully (and hopefully soon), my housemates will get some sleep hours back. Once the twins reach a stage where they are able to sleep overnight consistently. Surely other parenting challenges await after that. But, a well-rested and well-slept parent is better adept at meeting those challenges.

Suburban hiking

The problem with taking Thanksgiving week off from work is that I feel disgusting to be sedentary during that time. This year, I even got a gadget that reminds me just how much I am not moving: the Apple Watch. With me staying home the entire day, those daily fitness rings are definitely not closing. Can the gamification of fitness actually help me get off my butt?

Yes it can! (Thanks, Obama.) That Monday afternoon of the week off, the unfinished fitness rings were staring right at me from the watch face. On a typical work week, those would have been fulfilled by that time. Not content to let the streak die, I reluctantly put on some outside clothes - because wearing the same clothes outside and inside the home is kind of dirty - and headed outside for a walk. 30 minutes later, mission accomplished (like President Bush), rings closed.

And then I did the same the following day, and every week day during Thanksgiving week.

Turns out, taking a walk around the neighborhood is kind of nice (file under: duh). Obviously, it helps to be in a safe and leafy neighborhood. I can’t imagine doing this 20 years ago living near the Sunnydale housing projects. It also helps to go outside during golden hour - the period just before sunset. The views are often spectacular this time of year, with many clouds and no fog. A meditative stroll is a great way to end the day before heading to a hearty dinner.

New habit, then: I shall take walks around the neighborhood on weekend days - and weekdays when I am not working - where I’ve only been inside the home. Got to close those Apple Watch rings! The health benefits are cool, too.

Acne finally

During my annual checkup last week, I finally asked my doctor to prescribe a remedy for my acne. I am right smack in the middle of my 30s, and I am still breaking out like a pubescent teenager. It’s been this way since I actually was a pubescent teenager. It’s never been serious enough (no pepperoni pizza here, though still quite oily) for me to consider asking for the big guns. It’s just been a steady regiment of salicylic acid-infused face wash and benzoyl peroxide cream, hoping it will all go away as I age.

Obviously that has not happened. Constant mask use during the pandemic exacerbated the problem. The mask material interacted horribly with my oily face. Changing one out every few hours did not do much to stem the tide (my apologies, landfills). Even with the pandemic over, and far less frequent mask use, the acne did not recede at all. Which is why I finally talked with my doctor about an oral medication. Decades of topical remedy has accomplished very little.

I think most people are familiar with Accutane: the hammer against acne. It’s the final boss, for when everything else has failed. My doctor did not think Accutane is necessary. Apparently there’s a similar drug to take before exercising the Accutane trump card. It makes sense, because the side effects of Accutane is kind of notorious: constantly dry skin, and potential depression.

The doctor and I are hoping to avoid that by having me take doxycycline, a twice daily oral tablet for three months. It’ll be some time before I can say for sure whether this medicine is effective or not. What I can say is that it’s certainly working on something. One of the warnings on the bottle is users may become hugely sensitive to sunlight. I can directly confirm that is correct. Good thing I am starting this regiment during the autumn/winter months!

Continuous glucose monitoring

Last week I wrote that I scored a 5.7 on the HbA1c test during my annual checkup. That number is just into the range of pre-diabetic, which is rather alarming. With no other levers to pull - my sleep and exercise regiment is on point, the only lifestyle choice I am making is to limit carbohydrates. More so than I’ve already been doing for over a decade. It’s kind of difficult to cut carbs when I hardly eat any sugary products to begin with. I would be cutting into the staple carbs I eat with meals: rice, bread, noodles, fruits, et cetera.

Ideally, I want to be able to see which of those carbs are spiking my blood glucose level. It’s not prudent to cut out carbs completely, because I need some of it for sustenance, especially after workouts. Therefore it would be helpful to see if white rice spikes blood glucose, but a slices of wheat bread does not (or vice versa, I don’t really care). I will then only eat the carbs that do not elevate blood glucose.

Turns out there are devices called continuous glucose monitors (CGM). Exactly as the name suggests, it constantly measures a person’s blood glucose level (every five minutes). An app on a smartphone collates the data, and users can see in real time if it’s normal, elevated, or too low. Originally developed for type one diabetics - they need to check their blood glucose constantly, CGM devices are now broadly used by people (diabetic or otherwise) wanting a clear picture of their glucose profile.

I asked my doctor to prescribe one to me, and she agreed. But there’s a problem: because I am not a type one diabetic - or any form of diabetic, Kaiser Permanente insurance does not cover the CGM. I will have to pay out of pocket (in the American healthcare system, there is no money in prevention). The primary cost driver are the patches that sticks to the skin (for measuring). Those need to be replaced every 10 - 14 days (depending on the brand).

It’s a necessary expense. I need to see if my blood glucose level is indeed higher than what is considered normal. No better method than measuring (kind of) at the source. Sometimes HbA1c results can skew higher by other factors, so I want to check if that 5.7 might be a false positive (if you will). More to come!

It's nap time

You know things are slow at work when a coworker falls sleep while watching a YouTube video. Granted, the snoozing is probably not due to boredom. Rather it’s likely insufficient sleep. Sure we tend to yawn when we’re bored, but then we’d go find something to un-bore ourselves. Nobody goes, “You know what, I am bored. Let me go take a nap!”

Indeed, the workday does go by quicker when there is more stuff to do. This workload ebb and flow comes with the territory of one, working at a university, and two, being on the service side. People call us when shit goes bad, so if we’re busy all the time, then something is horribly wrong. We are smack dab in the middle of the Fall semester, so not a lot of things are going wrong at the moment (knock on wood).

The weather in San Francisco has finally turned cooler, a real autumnal feeling. That coziness probably adds to the drowsiness factor (I definitely sleep better during the winter months). The coworker did just return from a heavy lunch, too, so all the pressures of wanting-to-take-a-nap were working against him staying awake. Sadly, a public university is not the Google campus: there aren’t any nap pods around here.

As a purveyor of consistent, quality sleep, you won’t find me doing the head-nod into slumber whilst doing a sedentary activity. I haven’t done something like that since my college days of falling asleep in class. For obvious reasons, my sleep schedule was all over the place back then. No, professor, your lecture isn’t boring! I’m simply running on fumes.

These days, I no longer sacrifice sleep to the altar of continue playing a video game, or keep watching a TV series. I purposely leave social gatherings early in order to preserve the amount of sleep I get. It is too important for brain health to forsake.