The Insulin Gravity Phenomenon

Isaac Newton

Does this resonate with you? You are at the gym or asleep at night when suddenly your CGM alarm beeps that your BG is going low, and regardless of how much glucose you consume, your BG doesn't seem to want to come up. Or, in a different scenario, the your BG is really high, and it takes you several hours and bolus corrections to bring it back down.

This tendency of BG levels to pull towards the high-end or low-end of the BG spectrum is what I like to call Insulin Gevity (I coined it that back in 2019 because I couldn't find a name for it anywhere).

INSULIN

BG Flight

I like to use the example of Earth's atmosphere and gravitational pull as an analogy when I explain the concept Insulin Gravity to fellow T1Ds.

Lets imagine there's a cool T1D rocket about to fly up into the sky. It is fueled and ready for take off. We will call it BG. As it lifts off through the atmospheric layers and away from Earth, the higher its risk of the BG rocket being pulled out into outer space and away from Earth's gravitational pull (hyperglycemia).

In contrast, should the BG rocket run out of fuel (glucose) in mid-flight, the rocket will come spiraling down towards Earth to eventually crash (hypoglycemia).

Both scenarios spell danger and imminent tragedy.

Now, if the BG rocket were to fly in a constant up and down trajectory (BG rollercoaster), what will happen is that the BG rocket will progressively suffer damage (T1D complications) until the BG rocket finally breaks down and can no longer fly (coma/death).

On the other hand, if the BG rocket were to consistently fly on the atmospheric level that it was built for, it will function properly and not run into any problems (stable BG). My safest bet is to navigate safely through the ozone and stratosphere zones of 3.9 and 7 mmol (70 - 126 mgdL) for as often and long as possible.

Insulin Gravity Effect

Isaac Newton's 3rd Law states that, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". This law applies to Type 1 Diabetic BG management. I will explain::

The higher up the BG rocket flies into the upper loop of the BG spectrum, the lower the Insulin Gravity and the greater the insulin resistance will be, and as a consequence, the opposite force would be that the insulin sensitivity is lower.

↓ insulin gravity + ↑ insulin resistance = lower insulin sensitivity.

On the other hand, if the BG rocket flies closer to Earthh;s syrdacem tge usbulin Gravity goes up, the insulin resistance goes down, and the consequence is higher insulin sensitivy.

 ↑ insulin gravity + ↓ insulin resistance + = higher insulin sensitivity.

To increase insulin sensitivity you have to increase insulin gravity by lowering insulin resistance.

In layman's terms, the higher up you fly (less insulin gravity), the greater the distance away from Earth (increased insulin resistance), the less oxygen you have to breathe (less insulin sensitivity).

And the closer you are to Earth (higher insulin Gravity) and less distance distance from the ground (less insulin resistance), the better you can breathe. BUT, if you crash, your face face will be stuck in the mud like an ostrich and you won't be able to breathe at all. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. I hope that clarifies things for you.

In an upcoming blog I will elaborate more on the upper and lower loops of Insulin Gravity, and their causes and effects on type 1 diabetes. So, stay tuned! Skål!