The Health Blog

One of the most undemanding and the most workable ways to knock over blood sugar amount, eliminate the dangers of “cardiovascular disease,” and perk up health and welfare in general is exercise.

In spite of that, in today’s inactive world where almost every indispensable job can be carried out online, from the ergonomic chair in front of a computer, or with a streaming line of messages from a fax machine, exercising can be a hard argument to win over.

The Weight of Exercise

Everyone should exercise, yet the health experts tells us that only 30% of the United States population gets the recommended thirty minutes of daily physical activity, and 25% are not active at all. In fact, inactivity is thought to be one of the key reasons for the surge of type 2 diabetes in the U.S., because inactivity and obesity promote insulin resistance.

The good news is that it is never too late to get moving, and exercise is one of the easiest ways to start controlling your diabetes. For people with type 2 diabetes in particular, exercise can improve insulin sensitivity, lower the risk of heart disease, and promote weight loss.

Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes is on the rise. The number of people diagnosed with diabetes every year increased by 48% between 1980 and 1994. Nearly all the new cases are Type 2 Diabetes, or adult-onset, the kind that moves in around middle age. Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes include increased thirst, appetite, and need to urinate; feeling tired, edgy, or sick to the stomach; blurred vision; tingling or loss of feeling in the hands.

The causes of type 2 diabetes are complex and not completely understood, although research is uncovering new clues at a rapid pace.

However, it has already been proven that one of the reasons for the boom in type 2 diabetes is the widening of waistbands and the trend toward a more deskbound and inactive lifestyle in the United States and other developed countries. In America, the shift has been striking; in the 1990s alone, obesity increased by 61% and diagnosed diabetes by 49%.

For this reason, health experts encourage those who already have type 2 diabetes to start employing the wonders that exercise can do for them. Without exercise, people have the tendency to become obese. Once they are obese, they have bigger chances of accumulating type 2 diabetes.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that over 80% of people with type 2 diabetes are clinically overweight. Therefore, it is high time that people, whether inflicted with type 2 diabetes or not, should start doing those jumping and stretching activities.

Getting Started

The first order of business with any exercise plan, especially if you are a “dyed-in-the-wool” sluggish, is to consult with your health care provider. If you have cardiac risk factors, the health care provider may want to perform a stress test to establish a safe level of exercise for you.

Certain diabetic complications will also dictate what type of exercise program you can take on. Activities like weightlifting, jogging, or high-impact aerobics can possibly pose a risk for people with diabetic retinopathy due to the risk for further blood vessel damage and possible retinal detachment.

If you are already active in sports or work out regularly, it will still benefit you to discuss your regular routine with your doctor. If you are taking insulin, you may need to take special precautions to prevent hypoglycemia during your workout.

Start Slow

For those who have type 2 diabetes, your exercise routine can be as simple as a brisk nightly neighborhood walk. If you have not been very active before now, start slowly and work your way up. Walk the dog or get out in the yard and rake. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park in the back of the lot and walk. Every little bit does work, in fact, it really helps a lot.

As little as 15 to 30 minutes of daily, heart-pumping exercise can make a big difference in your blood glucose control and your risk of developing diabetic complications. One of the easiest and least expensive ways of getting moving is to start a walking program. All you need is a good pair of well-fitting, supportive shoes and a direction to head in.

Indeed, you do not have to waste too many expenses on costly “health club memberships,” or the most up-to-date health device to start pumping those fats out. What you need is the willingness and the determination to start exercising to a healthier, type 2 diabetes-free life.

The results would be the sweetest rewards from the effort that you have exerted.

Diabetes in children is also known as juvenile diabetes, but more commonly known as type 1 diabetes. It is the most common form of diabetes in children with ninety to ninety-five percent of carriers being under 16.

Juvenile diabetes is caused by the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin. It is an autoimmune disease, which means the bodies own defense system attacks the body’s tissues or organs.

In the last 30 years the number of juvenile diabetes had increased three times over and in Europe and the US we are now seeing type 2 diabetes in children for the first time.

Obesity easily explains type 2, but not why there is such a rise in type 1 diabetes in children. It is believed that a mixture of genetics and environmental factors are what triggers juvenile diabetes. But the majority of children don’t have a family history of diabetes.

The symptoms for juvenile diabetes are the same as in adults. Thirst, weight loss, fatigue, frequent urination is typical, but diabetes in children can also increase stomach pains, headaches and behavior problems.

Doctors should consider the possibility of diabetes in children who have unexplained stomach pains for a few weeks, along with the typical symptoms.

There are a few important things for a diabetic or his family to remember about taking insulin. He should:

1. Know what his insulin i s supposed to look like, and not use it if it looks different.  Some kinds of insulin should always be clear; other are cloudy or milky looking.  If a clear type of insulin looks cloudy, or if any kind of insulin looks like it has separated or gone lumpy, it should not be used.

2. Always keep an extra bottle of insulin available.  Running out could be disastrous!

3. Store the insulin currently being used in a dark cupboard.  In very hot climates, keep it in the refrigerator.  Insulin loses some of its strength when it is exposed to heat.  Never put insulin in the freezer or in direct sunlight.

4. Buy the type and strength of insulin which the doctor has prescribed, and never change brands without asking your doctor.

5. Use the correct type of syringe to go with the insulin prescribed.  There are different kinds of insulin syringes, and using the wrong one may result in giving the dose of insulin.

6. Check the expiration date on the insulin bottle.  Don’t use outdated insulin because its action may be very different from what it should be.

7. Take the correct amount of insulin every day.  Even if you are eatingvery little bcause of sickness, never stop taking your insuli.  You still need some insulin, so you should contact your doctor to adjust the dose.

8. Check with the doctor if the insulin is causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, skin redness, or any other problems.

A recent study published in the Aging Cell journal found out that certain ingredients in black tea could act as an insulin substitute and might help prevent type 2 diabetes. Several components of black tea - called theaflavins and thearubigins can mimic the action of insulin and we know that lack of insulin production leads to diabetes.

The researchers advise that diabetics shouldn’t be rushing to drink masses of black tea thinking it will cure them of diabetes. Their research into tea compounds is at a preclinical, experimental stage and people with diabetes should continue to take their medication as directed by their doctor.

Source: HealthDay

What is gestational diabetes?

There is a third kind of diabetes, though it is much less common than types I and II. It is called gestational diabetes because it begins during pregnancy, which doctors call the gestational period.

What are the risk factors for gestational diabetes?
- If a woman has someone in her family who already has diabetes, she is more likely candidate for gestational diabetes.
- If a woman is over 30 years old and especially if she is overweight.

Why does it happen only during pregnancy?
Pregnancy is a time of additional stresses to the human body. the body may fail to produce enough insulin to meet the need during this time. Approximately one percent of all women may develop symptoms of diabetes during the last half of pregnancy.

What are the symptoms of gestational diabetes?
Gestational diabetes may not cause any symptoms, however, excessive weight gain maybe noticeable at some cases. Excessive hunger or thirst, excessive urination or recurrent vaginal infections can also be signs and symptoms.

Risks for Diabetes Type 2:

1. Hereditary factors. With type 2 diabetes, there is a very strong family tendency toward the disease. If you have one family member with diabetes, your chances of getting it are twice as high as for an average person with no diabetic relatives. If you have two relatives with diabetes, you have four times the normal likelihood of becoming a diabetic yourself.

2. Overweight. Obesity is linked to many disease. In fact it was said that it is more dangerous than terrorism. When you eat more calories than your body actually needs, those extra calories are stored in the body as fat - regardless of whether the calories came from carbohydrates, proteins or fats.

Remember that insulin works to move not only glucose but also fats into storage. When fat cells are ful, however, they lose some of their ability to respond to insulin, so the pancreas produces more and more insulin in its effort to get the “doors” of the cells to open. Thus the pancreas has to work overtime to cope with the excess calories you eat. Also, the pancreas may eventually suffer from fatigue and lose some of its ability to produce insulin.

If a person already has diabetes somewhere in his family, he must guard extra carefully against becoming overweight.

3. Lack of exercise. For a person to have really good health, two of the most important factors are proper food and regular exercise. Getting regular exercise is one of the best ways of helping to prevent the lifestyle disease such as diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

With so many people getting diabetes nowadays, will you be one of them? Does it matter whether you are rich or poor, thin or fat, old or young? Surely, you can’t catch diabetes from someone who has it - that is it’s not contagious! But how then does a person get diabetes? Does it come from eating too much sugar? And who is likely to get it?

Risks for the two main types of diabetes are quite different. Let’s take a look at the Type I first:

1. Genetic factors:

There are at least two particular genes that give a person the tendency toward developing type I diabetes. They belong to the so-called HLA system, which controls the body’s defenses against infection.

2. Diabetes as an Autoimmune Disease

Many scientists now believe that type I diabetes is the result of the body’s immune system attacking its own insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.

A recent study found out that subjects who reported sleeping five or fewer hours each night were significantly more likely to have diabetes over the follow-up period compared to subjects who reported sleeping seven hours. These findings held true even after the researchers adjusted for variables such as physical activity, depression, alcohol consumption, ethnicity, education, marital status, age, obesity and history of hypertension.

So here are some tips on getting a good night sleep to help you avoid diabetes:

1. Follow a consistent bedtime routine.
2. Establish a relaxing setting at bedtime.
3. Get a full night’s sleep every night.
4. Avoid foods or drinks that contain caffeine, as well as any medicine that has a stimulant, prior to bedtime.
5. Do not go to bed hungry, but don’t eat a big meal before bedtime either.
6. Avoid any rigorous exercise within six hours of your bedtime.
7. Make your bedroom quiet, dark and a little bit cool.
8. Get up at the same time every morning.

There are two main types of diabetes mellitus (DM), Type I diabetes (also called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, IDDM) and Type II diabetes (also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus).

Type I diabetes:
It occurs when the insulin-producing cells in the body do not function, and they make little or no insulin. If the body does not even produce insulin, the glucose cannot move into the cells. TO stay alive, the majority of these people will have to depend on insulin injections for the rest of their lives. Type I is much less common form of diabetes - only about 10-20 percent of all diabetics are insulin dependent. This kind of diabetes usually begins in childhood or youth.

Type II diabetes:
It most often begins in overweight adults who are over the age of 40. With Type II diabetes, the pancreas does still produce some insulin. In some cases, the body is simply not making enough insulin. In other cases, however, the body may be making an adequate amount of insulin, but that insulin is no longer effective because the cells’ insulin receptors are jammed. The pancreas may try to remedy the situation by producing more and more insulin. But if the receptors don’t work, even this may not help.

Accurately speaking, we should call the disease by its full name, diabetes mellitus, to avoid confusion with a much rarer and totally different type of diabetes, called diabetes insipidus. The the average person knows the disease simply as diabetes, so that’s how are we going to call it in this blog.

Diabetes is a lifelong disease in which a person’s body either does not produce enough insulin or cannot makes proper use of the insulin which it does not produce.

Insulin is a hormone - a chemical which helps regulate and control certain body functions. Insulin is made by the pancreas, which is a small endocrine gland located just below the stomach. In the pancreas, special beta cells in the areas called the islets of Langerhans secrete insulin directly into the bloodstream. There insulin works to control the amount of glucose in the blood.

Glucose is really just sugar. When your body digests the foods you eat, it changes the carbohydrates (as well as some of the proteins and fats) into glucose. Glucose is your sources of energy - the fuel for your body. And glucose is the nourishment for the various cells in the body.

I am starting another series for this blog, which I entitled The Diabetes Series. This series will focus on general information about diabetes, tips on living with diabetes, and new treatments.

I first thought of starting this blog using a Blogger account but due to time constraints it entails - I try to be multitasking but I couldn’t, I decided to integrate it with this health blog.

Why I decided write about diabetes? It’s on my bloodline. My grandmother and 2 uncles has diabetes. And as the medical student in the family, I am always asked about the disease. So with writing about diabetes is one way of learning more about it.

Hope you enjoy my diabetes series! And oh, yeah, I am planning to do a Cardio Series in the future if time permits.