Lowering the thermostat....

Oldvatr said:

Interesting that you did not notice any improvement in your IR, I have to ask the question, by what means you use to guage your IR level? I have not seen any home remedy means of measuring this without associated lab checks. In my case, my pancreas is still producing my own insulin, so as my IR level improves, then my body will probably react by reducing the amount of insulin being released, but my bgl may not be affected by this in the short term. I have no means of measuring my insulin levels. All I can measure (rather badly) is my bgl glucose content, and this is only 'reliable' when averaged over a long period.

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No lab tests I'm afraid. The only way I have ever had of gauging my own IR is by how much my muscles hurt when they are not getting fuel through and how difficult it is still to lose weight. I need to stretch my muscles before I walk or work to help fight the insulin resistance. That's OK but boring and often too time consuming to do all the time. I am still producing my own insulin too. Not scientific I know, I just thought you would be interested in the weight lost during a hypothermic episode.

zand said:

No lab tests I'm afraid. The only way I have ever had of gauging my own IR is by how much my muscles hurt when they are not getting fuel through and how difficult it is still to lose weight. I need to stretch my muscles before I walk or work to help fight the insulin resistance. That's OK but boring and often too time consuming to do all the time. I am still producing my own insulin too. Not scientific I know, I just thought you would be interested in the weight lost during a hypothermic episode.

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I have never been told I am IR, so I have had to assume that my slim build and inability to put on much weight was due to IR preventing glucose passing into the muscles for storage or use. It has never been measured by my GP.

Having said that, it is one of the warning symptoms of T2D that sudden weight loss and high bgl is part of diagnosis. another set of tests is used to prove that T2D has high levels of insulin with high bgl, and this is the pointer to IR. I don't think there is a specific human test, but some animal studies did use lab results as their proof for IR reduction.

Recent studies have claimed IR reduction is linked to fat stored in adipose tissue, and no doubt that study will describe methods used to validate their claim, but I have lost the link to that report.

Your weight reduction is a fine example of the brown cells doing their stuff, and it is probable that reducing IR actually allowed increased fat take up into the adipocytes to replace that lost through the shivering. So lower IR allows more fat storage, so it maybe that this counteracted itself and that is probably why you did not notice.

Mr_Pot said:

You have windows? Luxury! There are fifteen of us living in a shoebox in the middle of the road and all we have eat is a handful of cold gravel!

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You are lucky.....

And you try to tell the kids of today that, and they won't believe you.

Our main stat is set to 21C for the mornings, and 20C for other times. Its off overnight. However that always leaves the bedroom to hot for sleep. So the door is closed and window open from early evening, and the thermostatic valve in there is set to 10C from lunchtime.

We struggle so much with sleeping if the bedroom is too hot that we have AC in there. Unusual in the UK but a godsend on the days when its needed. Other times we can use it as a heater since is provides 2.5kW of heat for less than 1kW of electricity input.

lowedb said:

Other times we can use it as a heater since is provides 2.5kW of heat for less than 1kW of electricity input.

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Wow! I must get one of those!

Mr_Pot said:

Wow! I must get one of those!

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Yes. We were so pleased we have one downstairs now. That one is used a lot more for heating than cooling but great to have for both. It's really great on a cold but sunny winters day to heat the house for nothing using the electricity from the solar. Even later on in the year on days like today, I'll heat just a couple of rooms using that rather than the CH.

Air conditioner or alternating current? You appear to have discovered perpetual motion! D.

lowedb said:

Our main stat is set to 21C for the mornings, and 20C for other times. Its off overnight. However that always leaves the bedroom to hot for sleep. So the door is closed and window open from early evening, and the thermostatic valve in there is set to 10C from lunchtime.

We struggle so much with sleeping if the bedroom is too hot that we have AC in there. Unusual in the UK but a godsend on the days when its needed. Other times we can use it as a heater since is provides 2.5kW of heat for less than 1kW of electricity input.

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I have air conditioning also it's called a window when hot I open it when cold I shut it.

lindisfel said:

Air conditioner or alternating current? You appear to have discovered perpetual motion! D.

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Air conditioning. And no I haven't discovered perpetual motion. You are missing the energy input that isn't being paid fr. That's how heat pumps work.

JohnEGreen said:

I have air conditioning also it's called a window when hot I open it when cold I shut it.

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Not if its 25C or higher outside, surely?