Here’s a long term graph of consumer bankruptcy data, from 1991 forward.

Since the beginning of 2007 (approximately pre-recession), you can see the leveling off in the short term chart.

In terms of actual numbers, here’s the comparison between the first quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2010.

Comparing bankruptcies and proposals (for consumers), the number of proposals for March (4,458) was the highest in the period I have data for (since January 2007).

For businesses, that same trend is not evident even though there was an up tick in both bankruptcies and proposals in March (bankruptcies up from 287 in February 2011 to 399 in March and proposals up from 81 to 169).

A shorter term chart (January 2008 to present) shows the changes since the period immediately prior to the recession.

The shorter term chart highlights how unemployment, which initially rose quite quickly, has been slow to come down.

It still remains lower than the US rate, though the US rate had been falling faster than the Canadian rate and the difference between the two is not as large as it once was.

The current difference is 1.1% (7.7% in Canada vs. 8.8% in the US), but in April 2010 the difference was 1.8% (8.1% vs. 9.9%).

Here’s the long term graph for consumer insolvencies (aka personal bankruptcies) going back to the beginning of 1991:

A closer view looking just since the period immediately preceding the recession:

For the same period (January 2007 to present) the decrease is bankruptcies is not matched by a decrease in proposals (the number of proposals actually increased from the prior month from 3,219 to 3,342).

The implications of this? I’m not sure if there’s any data on what proportion of proposals eventually end up as bankruptcies, but the increasing number of proposals seems to mitigate some of the gain from the decrease in actual bankruptcies.

For businesses the trend continues to be a bit different, with proposals decreasing along with bankruptcies, though decreasing at a much lesser rate.

Only in the last few years did I seriously consider taking steps to address the problem and to track both my calf cramps and the steps I was taking to alleviate them. In the past I had made changes in my diet and in my exercise regimen, but never tracked their effect (if any) on calf cramping. Improving my diet and engaging in some sort of exercise (including some stretching)  seemed to improve things (based on my recall), but I had no data to support my impression.

Off and on, starting in 2008, I began to track my nocturnal calf cramps. Starting in early May and ending in late October, I recorded six cramps in that six month period:

I really don’t know how to account for the gaps between incidents or for the grouping in September. Looking back at the records I did keep, I don’t see any major changes that would account for it. Or what would account for the four month period where I experienced no cramps at all. I think this underscores the need to keep accurate and consistent records when tracking something like this.

In 2009 I again starting tracking at the beginning of February through to the end of August. I recorded three cramps during that eight month period:

Again I have no real explanation for the frequency or for the gaps. Three in eight months this time versus six in six months the previous time. This is a pretty significant decrease in frequency, without apparent reason, including an almost three month cramp free period.

I started tracking again on October 15^th of 2009. To the end of 2009 I experienced no cramping (and this was in the absence of any particular treatment). This time I started tracking continuously to the present, but I did not continuously track supplementation (I had on and off supplemented with Magnesium Citrate, 200-400 mg per day).

From late 2009 to mid 2010 I experienced eight cramps as follows:

Again there are large gaps and a grouping of five cramping episodes in late May and early June with no readily apparent explanation.

On June 7^th 2010 I began regular daily supplementation with 200mg of Magnesium Citrate (brand: Now Foods, if that’s important). In the period following I experienced cramping on:

Starting September 11^th 2010 I also began supplementation with Potassium Citrate, approximately 400mg (4 x 99mg to be exact), taken in the evening along with the Magnesium Citrate (the Potassium Citrate was also from Now Foods).

Reasoning behind the supplementation: magnesium supposedly aids muscle relaxation. Potassium is involved in electrical signaling (potentiality) of muscle movements (activation).

The Dietary Reference Intakes for these two minerals for an adult male (31+) are currently:

• Magnesium: 420 mg
• Potassium: 4700 mg

From the above figures it can be seen that my magnesium supplementation was a fairly high percentage of the DRI (just under 50%) while my potassium supplementation was a relatively small percentage of the DRI (less than 10%).

After September 11^th 2010 (with the combined magnesium and potassium supplementation) I only experienced one very minor (not really painful) calf cramp on December 8^th 2010 – which actually occurred after waking, but while still in bed. I’m not sure I should even count this as an event, since it isn’t something that woke me as had occurred previously. So essentially there were no further nocturnal calf cramps from mid-September 2010.

During this time I also added a couple of activities to my exercise regimen. Starting in August 2010 I started playing badminton again (something I hadn’t done since childhood) and in November 2010 I also started taking ballet classes (something I had never done before). Possible importance: the ballet involved a lot of work using and stretching the legs (especially the lower leg). Badminton also involved a lot of movement, though less specific than ballet.

Starting January 1^st 2011 I discontinued the magnesium supplementation. My reasoning was that I had still experienced nocturnal calf cramps after beginning magnesium supplementation. Perhaps just potassium alone would be sufficient, since I had experienced no further significant cramping episodes after adding the potassium (of course there’s the possibility that there was a synergistic relationship between the two – eliminating one would hopefully reveal whether that was true or not).

Since January 1^st 2011 there have been no re-occurrences (3+ months now). Successful so far, but given that I also made some changes to my activity regimen since September 2010 I am left wondering if the change might have been due to that rather than to the supplementation. I think this highlights the difficulty of ascribing an observed change to a single variable, since as evidenced by my previous data collection efforts there had been other significant periods of time where I had not experienced any cramps (periods of up to three  months) for no readily apparent reason.

So starting April 1^st 2011 I also discontinued the potassium supplementation (so now I am not taking any supplements at all – not for this or for anything else). I will continue to track any nocturnal calf cramps. There have been none so far.

This is something that will have to be an ongoing project for me. The data I have gathered so far have been very helpful to me and I feel I have learned from what I have done so far, but I don’t feel that I can draw a definitive conclusion. The potassium supplementation would seem to have been helpful, but further tracking and experimentation will tell me more. This is an ongoing project for me. Perhaps just a decent diet and the appropriate physical activity will suffice.

The aspect of potassium supplementation that concerns me is that the amount I supplemented with was not really very large in terms of the daily requirements. Looking at the USDA nutrient database for food equivalents of my supplementation I found the following:

• 200 grams of baked potato contains around 1,000 mg of potassium
• 220 grams of duck contains around 550 mg of potassium

Other good sources are tomatoes and beans.

So it would not be difficult to get the amount of potassium I was supplementing with from food sources without having to radically alter my diet. My current plan is to complete a three month period (April through to the end of June) with no supplementation and see my results.

Thoughts: My efforts so far have made apparent to me the difficulty in tracking and in thinking of all the relevant variables that might be responsible. It’s convenient to think that there might be a single controllable, measurable variable to account for things, but I’m really not sure that this is the case. I did some research and the medical literature does not reveal a documented cure for this condition, though it is generally theorized to be a result of an electrical/electrolyte imbalance, hence the potential importance of potassium intake and supplementation. I used Potassium Citrate in my experiments, though other forms exist. The citrate is readily available and inexpensive. Potassium Chloride is also readily available, but contains chlorine is also an electrolyte (so it can effect muscle function).Then I would be in the position of not knowing whether the observed effect was a result of the potassium or chlorine.

The definition of Proposal from the OSBC website:

An offer to creditors to settle debts under conditions other than the existing terms. It is a formal agreement under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

First the consumer insolvencies and proposals.

Interesting to note that while actual insolvencies have been declining, proposals have not been and in fact show an opposite trend.

Now business insolvencies and proposals.

Business insolvencies peaked earlier, though the last couple of months have moved up significantly (which was not the case in November and December of 2009), even though business proposals have been flat.

Since September of 2010 the monthly figures have been running below 2009 and 2008 levels, but still above the levels recorded in 2007 (prior to the recession).

Here’s a chart for the same period.

For the same period here’s a chart showing personal bankruptcies compared to the unemployment rate for the same period.

From the chart it is evident that bankruptcies have dropped more than unemployment, but still remain elevated compared to pre-recession levels.

And the long term chart (for bankruptcies) going back to the beginning of 1991.

It’s interesting to compare the data for Canada to the data from the United States. Calculated Risk has posted a chart for annualized personal bankruptcies going back to 1996 (note the abrupt change from 2005 to 2006 is due to a change in American bankruptcy legislation). Here’s the US chart (from Calculated Risk, not me).

And for comparison here’s the Canadian chart for the same period.

Just looking at the period since the recession period, bankruptcies in Canada have eased off from their highs compared to the US figures.

I had a 100 gram chocolate bar (Green & Black’s Almond Milk Chocolate) before heading out at around 1pm. The temperature outside was around -12° C (around 10° F) and the walk to the park took about 45 minutes. When there I did some ice skating (two half separate hour segments) and walking around, taking pictures. I consumed only water while there.

I left a bit after 6 pm and on the way home stopped at a supermarket and consumed another 100 gram milk chocolate bar (generic store brand) on the way home. Arrive home at 6:55 pm.

After that I made measurements of blood glucose (using a One Touch Ultra Two meter) and of body temperature (using a house brand unit I bought at Shoppers Drug Mart several years ago) taken orally.

According to Wikipedia the commonly accepted normal range for oral temperature is:

36.8° C ± 0.7 (36.1 to 37.5) or

98.2° F ± 1.3 (96.9 to 99.5)

Observations: My body temperature was on the low side on the first measurement (it would have been a good idea to have taken an initial measurement before having gone out, in addition to blood glucose).

At 7:30 there’s already a significant jump in body temperature, back into the lower end of the normal range. Blood glucose shows a modest spike upwards.

At 8:00 body temperature has gone down a bit. I’m thinking there may be some measurement error with this older thermometer. There’s no reason it should have gone down as I was indoors the whole time (though there’s always some variability in readings). Blood glucose has already gone back down, the increase was very short lived. Normally I would expect a higher and longer lasting increase in blood glucose.

Thoughts:  This experiment was really quite impromptu. When I originally went out for the day I had no plans to measure anything. It was only when I was on my way home that I decided that it might be interesting to look at what would happen (hence there were no initial measurements taken earlier in the day).

Conclusions (if any): Is the ability to quickly metabolize the ingested sugars related solely to the level of physical activity, or can some of it be attributed to the cold weather as well (since energy must be utilized by the body to maintain normal body temperature). I don’t think I can say conclusively based on one instance, and it would be good to conduct an equivalent experiment in warm weather as well (though the activity level can never be exactly duplicated). It’s certainly plausible that the moderate blood glucose response was partly due to the cold.

“History tells us, that from the moment when the moral forces on which a civilisation rested have lost their strength, its final destruction is brought about by those unconscious and brutal crowds known, justifiably enough, as barbarians.  Civilisations as yet have only been created and directed by a small intellectual aristocracy, never by crowds…A civilisation involves fixed rules, discipline, a passing from the instinctive to the rational state, forethought for the future, an elevated degree of culture – all of them conditions that crowds, left to themselves, have invariably shown themselves incapable of realising.”

“As a child I felt myself to be alone, and I am still, because I know things and must hint at things which others apparently know nothing of, and for the most part do not want to know. Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible.”

Here’s the long term chart for Canada (going back to the beginning of 1976):

And a shorter term chart for Canada (since January of 2008 – prior to the start of the recession).

It’s quite noticeable that despite the improvement, unemployment is coming down much more slowly than it went up.

And here’s the graph comparing Canada and the USA from January 2000.

All figures are based on officially reported unemployment rates, which as always are open to some dispute.