Two Minds Blog

  ·         Acute COVID cases are relatively low at this point, but Long COVID is continuing to strain healthcare resources and complicate other illnesses. Here in Colorado, a new study estimated that 1 of every 7 people who ever had COVID are still experiencing some level of Long COVID symptoms. When you consider that an estimated three-quarters of U.S. adults have had COVID at least once, this translates to a massive number of Americans with Long COVID symptoms. Only 1 in 5 U.S. adults received the latest COVID vaccine formulation, which also leaves them vulnerable to another round of infection or re-infection with current COVID-19 variants that are much more resistant to the older vaccine formulations and may also be able to overcome people's natural immunity from prior bouts with the virus. Unfortunately,  another  recent study  estimated that 6 million children and young adults in the U.S. are also living with Long COVID; th...

Last Tuesday was Mardi Gras, traditionally a day of excess just before the start of the church season of Lent. Lent (from the Old English lencten  meaning "springtime") is one of two penitential times in the Christian church year, when people are asked to repent for their sins and engage in various forms of self-denial. Many people still talk about "giving something up" for Lent. It seems ironic, then, that the season of Lent should start with a scheduled day of debauchery, "Fat Tuesday" in French, when people are encouraged to eat pancakes or King Cake, drink alcohol, dress in outlandish outfits, and dance in the streets. The event even has theological underpinnings: Medieval clergy offered pre-planned absolution at the start of Lent on the day that is also called "Shrove Tuesday," from the Old English verb shrive (adjective: shrove or shriven) meaning "to offer forgiveness from sins." Lent always made a certain sort of sense to me fro...

  I have previously written about my work with a team studying continuous glucose monitor (CGM) use by adolescents with type 1 diabetes. I recently had the opportunity to try a CGM sensor myself for a couple of weeks. I don't have diabetes, so my scores were all "in range," but there were still some interesting patterns in blood sugar over the course of the day. Wearing the sensor for 14 days also gave me insight into what the experience is like for patients who use a CGM for a longer time. There's a debate in the medical literature about whether healthy people should ever use a CGM. On the one hand, some experts suggest that a CGM can help people to improve their diet , especially if they are at risk for diabetes or have signs of "pre-diabetes" already. CGMs can also help people to learn more about how stress and exercise affect their blood glucose. Dr. Peter Attia, in his book Outlive , makes one of the strongest cases for self-monitoring as a route to kn...