GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #22: WHAT Does “Exercise” ACTUALLY Mean?

For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

If you are anything like me – over 65; overweight; overeating; over-pilled, and just overtired of all the THINGS I’m supposed to be doing to deal with my Type 2 diabetes, follow me...

I chose this image because for most of my life, that’s how I defined “exercising”:

Let’s look at the WORD itself: exorcise (v.) c. 1400, "to invoke spirits," from Old French exorciser (14c.), from Late Latin exorcizare, from Greek exorkizein "banish an evil spirit (or fatness); bind by oath" (see exorcism).

Oops!!! That’s not EXERCIZE – that’s EXORCISE!!! Like the old/new movie!

Hmmm…truth be told, I have about as much interest in exercising as I taking part in an exorcism…Not even sure how much difference there is between them, to be honest.

At any rate, exercise carries so much weight (pun originally NOT intended, but let’s roll with it), in my mind that even the mention of it or seeing commercials with people exercising in them brings me out in a cold sweat. NOT a hot sweat, so worrying about exercising isn’t gonna do me any good.

Lemme get back on track, I go to an etymological website (no, NOT a bug website!) to explore the ORIGINS of words. In this case, the word exercise has these roots: “…condition of being in active operation; practice for the sake of training," from Old French exercice.”

I’m going to change one word in there – not really change it, but at two letters. Where it says, “…condition of being in active operation; practice….blah, blah, blah”.

I’m going to amend that to a “…condition of being in active COOPERATION…” because you have to cooperate with others if you are actually going to exercise…I suppose you can go it alone, but bringing a cheer squad with you is helpful!

I’m NOT talking about the adolescent acrobatics depicted in the picture above. What I’m THINKING about is the image at the top of the column.

Just start walking…biking…gardening…cleaning up a nearby park…counting hummingbirds for your local or state County or State Park Reserves…band migratory birds or even just COUNT them for population studies. Walk in the winter, too! You don’t have to walk miles – in the winter I started by walking from our house to the graveyard at the top of the hill (TALK ABOUT MOTIVATION!!!) Moving is a good thing. ANY AMOUNT OF MOVING CAN BE GOOD. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep on saying it. So if you don’t want to hear this “moving stuff”, just don’t read my blogs if they have the word “move” in it…

A reasonable read about the benefits of exercise from the Mayo Clinic’s website: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20048389
Image: https://cathe.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/shutterstock_410678884.jpg Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg