When Santa came to town

“Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone”. Charles M. Schulz
The New Year always brings worries in Diabetic clinics; when numbers - namely blood sugar and cholesterol go in the red. Research has shown that in a majority, this is transient and most New Year resolutions are effective in handling them before even they start wavering. Reams of literature and even social media still hasn`t been able to decide on the appropriate etiquette for the diabetic and the pre-diabetic. But there are extremely useful guides, whether it is recipes or suggestions on various kinds of exercise and even travel and holidays. This is up to the individual but we believe this is a time to enjoy, connect and liberate oneself and bond with friends, family and the greater community.

It is vitally important that not just the person but the people around need to be aware and educated so as to help people make this season extremely memorable. However, this should not lead to intrusion and policing, which will be counterproductive. 

In today’s world of digital health, remote monitoring with wearables, use of cloud services in monitoring blood sugars and use of telemedicine can enable people to enjoy themselves because people are always `connected` and help is always at hand. Digital health has emancipated the individual from the inconvenience of travel and restrictions of time and space and continuous help is available much before disaster strikes. However, a sense of self responsibility needs to be inculcated year long, so that the festive indulgence is tolerable.
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Though the holidays are a time for festive cheer, for some it is a bit of stress and loneliness. Family issues, bereavement, monetary and employment setbacks along with negative reflective thoughts often dominate leading to depression and alcoholic binges. This could spell doom for diabetics. Help is needed, sometimes proactively. Though a fair amount is being done in this field, remote assistance with use of telemedicine by personnel trained in mental health could provide tremendous support in this field. Santa now has more things to pack in his sack.