When you wake up in the morning and you don't feel great, what's the thing that gets you moving? On the days when you're feeling fantastic, what do you like to do, what really makes you smile?

Winter is full of ups. Many festivals both religious and non-religious are during these months and we overindulge. We get invited to parties and our lives are often in flux. This affects us all differently and sets up challenges that we need to adjust to which adds to the anxieties and concerns when you have a medical condition like diabetes. Here what some of these worries are for our health shared community. When the clocks change you have to kind of adjust because you may find that like this time around I was a little bit off timing with some of my insulin shots and you you will get the you know low blood sugar hyperglycemia which you have to then compensate for and I'm thinking I've done everything that's normal why suddenly am I going into a hyperglycemia or a low blood sugar episode and and you have to think ah yes I did this last night I didn't eat enough um you know carbohydrate or whatever before I went to bed um I'm now getting up a different time uh taking an insulin shot and hey presto half an hour later I'm sort of like dropping my blood sugars are dropping um so you have to kind of in in the dark weather in in the In the summer it's a lot easier because your days tend to be much further spread. During the day, when you come in and you start working and you put your lights on, you have to keep an eye on the clock. You have to keep an eye on the clock and go, ah, he's got to this time of day, I need to be doing a shot and preparing for supper. I'm constantly sleep deprived and that's because of bad habits such as looking at your smartphone middle of the night where the blue light goes straight straight into your brain and stops you from sleeping. So that has its effects on stress. You just take something like sleep where there's, you know, from a health policy perspective, you know the evidence base in terms of the value of sleep, but again you might find as you go into a holiday period you're you know you're up later you know you're whatever you're just you know it's part of it just relaxing and looking back maybe you don't get as much sleep as you would do normally. If you look at stress it's interesting because you know you're generally what you're trying to do is de-stress over a holiday period but in terms of how you're feeling about your health and your health status there might be in you know in the back of your mind that actually while you're trying to relax you're actually getting you're sacrificing health for relaxation and unhealthy behavior is how you relax so that's a that's a little bit of a contradictory one. Whatever your worries, there is someone who has been there before and hearing their story can give you some peace of mind. Overindulgence is part of the human frailty and something we all have battles with because it brings with us feelings of guilt, annoyance and sometimes depression. Alcohol is sometimes one of those excesses at this time of year. It's important to understand how much it affects your diabetes and how to manage and treat yourself. The Healthshare Diabetes Committee shares with you their stories and you can join that conversation.