REDUCING DECISION FATIGUE

Living with diabetes sometimes feels like everyone else is driving an automatic and you are in manual mode. There are so many extra things to consider and so many daily decisions to make for things to run smoothly.

Researchers estimate that people living with diabetes make 180 more daily health-related decisions than those without diabetes. That's one additional decision every five minutes of waking time.

Given there are 42 recognised factors that are known to affect blood glucose levels for people living with diabetes - everything from hot weather to incidental exercise like rushing to catch the tram or bus - it's little wonder there is so much decision fatigue.

The body is like an orchestra. It's a complex system that works harmoniously for most, but when you have diabetes, some of the body's instruments are out of sync or out of tune. For those living with diabetes, frequent and sometimes tough decisions must be made to re-tune the system because blood glucose levels are influenced by so many factors.

While there isn't one magic pill you can take, a static medication schedule to follow, or device you can connect to in order to remove all of those decisions, there are a number of simple things you can do that may help to reduce your daily decision-making load.

DEVELOP LIFE CHECKLISTS AND PLANS

Pre-planning for certain situations can help to reduce daily decisions. Developing what I like to call life checklists or plans for recurring or surprise situations is a good way to reduce the burden. This requires putting in a bit of work early, not while you're in the middle of a situation.

CHECKLISTS WORTH CONSIDERING ARE:

► SICK-DAY PLANS: illness can have a huge impact on your blood sugars. Include in the plan which medications are ok to take, how frequently you should measure blood glucose and ketone levels, how to keep hydrated, how to adjust dosages, and when you should call your doctor.