4 Surprising Lessons I've Learned Recently—While Taking a Loved One to a Hospital

08 May 2025 #misc

During a recent hospital visit, I found inspiration to write.

To keep my mind busy and productively distracted while waiting, I took out my phone and started to jot down ideas. Ideas of how to calm my mind and ideas of how hospital visits might look in 2035.

From that visit, I’ve learned four surprisingly useful (and maybe random) things about health and well-being:

#1. Insulin helps decrease potassium levels.

When we hear insulin, we think of diabetes.

But it turns out insulin helps the body absorb potassium faster. At least, that’s what a doctor explained to us. My loved one has kidney failure and her potassium levels were outside the normal range.

#2. Anemia isn’t only because of iron deficiency.

It’s one of the causes, not the main one. It could be due to genetic reasons or red blood cells dying too soon or bone disorders… or excessive bleeding.

#3. Too much exercise before bed interrupts your sleep patterns.

I found this on a study on the front page of Hacker News. I had to do something while waiting, so why not scroll down a feed?

The study doesn’t discourage exercise. It compares light exercise to high-intensity exercise within 4 hours before bed.

That won’t work as an excuse not to move your body. Sorry!

#4. When rushing, life makes you slow down.

In 2023, while finding ways to recover from burnout, I read “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer.

There was a line that has lived rent-free in my mind since then:

“God [or Nature or Universe] didn’t create hurry.”

I had to remember that recently. No matter how I hurry, I couldn’t change anything about what was outside my control.