Under Pressure

by Erin

I dragged Grasshopper out of bed, tired, grumpy, crying and upset and hauled both kids to school in workout clothes and no make up, on the Monday after Spring Break only to get into the office and be told there was no school because of parent teacher conferences. Guess I should check my email!! #hotmess

After a morning of self inflicted high emotional pressure we dealt with low atmospheric pressure and low blood sugar the rest of the day. I have heard many anecdotal accounts of a connection between weather phenomena and blood sugar fluctuations. Those who know me hear the same from me. There truly are a wide variety of situations that affect blood sugar and they can interact in odd ways. Sometimes I can pinpoint why there is a drop or rise in blood sugar. Other days it feels like Grasshopper’s blood sugar fluctuations are due to butterfly wings flapping in New Zealand.

Have you noticed at correlation (not necessarily causation) between fluctuations in barometric pressure and blood sugar levels? Tell me in the comments!

We were expecting stormy weather and after feeding Grasshopper another few Annie’s Fruit Snacks to keep up his blood sugar, I checked our glass barometer. It was showing that the pressure was so low the water was almost coming out of the spout! This is certainly not a highly scientific post nor a highly scientific weather instrument, by today’s 21st-century standards. Today a weather glass like ours is an amusing novelty. Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian physicist and mathematician, is noted as the inventor of the mercury barometer in 1643. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the 19th century German writer, made popular a water barometer that was based on the principles Torricelli developed. It became known as a Goethe barometer. It is ball shaped instead of our teardrop shaped one but they both work on the same principle.

When properly filled, the water in the glass will rise and fall with changes in air pressure. High air pressure outside the glass will cause the water in the spout to fall. Low air pressure outside the glass will cause the water in the spout to rise. Granted, the fluctuation of the water level in our home barometer depends on the difference between what the air pressure was when I filled it and trapped that air bubble inside and the current air pressure outside the glass.

Here’s how it works. https://youtu.be/Vfr-qwZw8bI

In spite of it not being super accurate, it is fun to watch. It struck me that our old fashioned barometer was showing that the pressure was low and we had been dealing with low blood sugar all day.

Here is what the actual air pressure was then.