Twisting poses are very effective
Juvenile diabetes is when the insulin producing cells in your pancreas die. A diabetic's body doesn't produce it's own insulin which is why they do injections or wear an insulin pump. When a diabetic is diagnosed it not only changes a few things in their life but it forces on a whole new lifestyle. Being diagnosed at the age of 12, almost five years ago- I know how hard it gets. I started yoga a few months after I was diagnosed and saw a major difference. It helped stabalize my blood sugar and in time it also lowered my insulin doseage.
Yoga for diabetes isn't just an exercise, it's a form of treatment and therapy. Sometimes after you're diagnosed you still have a few insulin producing beta cells in your body, they just don't work like they should. The best thing for a diabetic to do in a yoga class would be a variety of twisting poses. The twisting poses act like a wet towel would, imagine wringing out a wet towel and trying to get every last bit of water out. Yoga does that with your beta cells, trying to wring out every last bit of insulin. From my experience, the sooner you start after being diagnosed the better off you are. It not only helps you physically but in a way it helps you embrace your new life as a diabetic. It calms you down and helps you stay in control of your feelings. Trust me, it helps SO much with every aspect of the disease.
Story time!
I was on a road trip with my mom and sister, on the way home from visiting some family friends in Houston, Texas. The road trip was about 6 hours long and we got stuck in traffic. Without realizing, I had only a little bit of insulin left in my pump. I went ahead and ate a snack and soon found out that I had absolutely no insulin in my pump. We were only in Houston for two days so I didn't have any extra insulin or pump site changes with me, we were still 3 hours away so there was a problem! A diabetics worse fear is being stuck somewhere with no insulin. After an hour of having your pump off, your blood sugar will raise. My blood sugar started raising and we couldn't find a hospital so my mom stopped the car at a rest area for me to do some yoga poses. For 15 minutes I did advanced yoga poses trying to lower my blood sugar, and then we jumped back in the car and started driving home. I checked my blood every few minutes because it could have been an extremely dangerous situation. My blood sugar not only lowered because of the yoga like most exercises do, but it became normal and it STAYED normal the whole way home. My blood sugar peaked a few minutes before we got home but I was fine. When I say yoga saved my life, I mean it.
