The Brain

I don't know about the anatomy or chemistry of all this, but I too am aware that I am thinking more clearly now my Bg is under control. My memory is better and my ability to concentrate has improved. I still ocassionally put the odd packet of tea in the freezer, but...well...stuff happens doesn't it?

When my BG drops around 4 - 4.5 mmol/l I know my speech gets slurry, my concentration goes and my whole being is in a daze. So, I always make sure it is slightly higher but no more than 7 at any time. Keeps my brain active and alert.

When I was really high like around 24+ mmol/l I was also sleepy and almost felt tipsy.......then other times I felt great !! Don't ask why......I just did.

Best to keep good levels and feed that brain, however it works.

Too much sugar or refined carbohydrates at one time, however, can actually deprive your brain of glucose – depleting its energy supply and compromising your brain's power to concentrate, remember, and learn. Mental activity requires a lot of energy.

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Source. http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html

Interesting! Quite by accident, I became aware that I was thinking more clearly and with a sharper focus after a period of modest fasting - this in the few months before I was diagnosed.

(cue image of scantily-clad eastern mystic on mountaintop living on one lentil per day...)

I've not performed any robusts tests, but I'd say that I am at my sharpest, mentally, between 4.0 and 4.8 - even when I happen to have tested a bit lower, down to 3.8, I'm mentally still sharp although a little physical tiredness creeps in.

When I was on Met, I did hit 3.5 and 3.6 on a couple of occasions; then I did feel a bit odd, but I was in the midst of a serious low-carbing weightloss regime. I'm still reasonably lowcarb, but backed-up by a few mins of exercise half a dozen times per day, plus a longer period of reasonably brisk walking.

Hit 5.0 or above and I'd say I've slowed back to normal and in the days when I used to hit 6 or above I'd really notice it; that feeling just like after a big lunch and a couple of pints.

Obviously, this is all anecdotal and it is difficult to self-analyse with any great accuracy, but when I occasionally look back from end-of-day perspective at the complex mental tasks I've sometimes achieved in an afternoon when I've skipped lunch, I'm pretty sure it is a real effect.

I don't know how much glucose you'd burn off with 6 hours of intensive Sudoku, but the scalp is well supplied with blood for the very good reason that the brain does generate a lot of heat that needs to be carried away; that certainly indicates that it consumes a fair amount of fuel too.

Conversely, watching too much reality TV or soap operas probably shuts the brain down, causing BG to rise...

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