Need for exercise in the case of Type 2 diabetes to alleviate effects on the heart
By Diabetes Affected | June 9, 2009
Diabetes is supposed to have harmful affects on the heart, along with the harmful effects of an enhanced level of sugar on the internal organs of the body. There are an increasing number of diabetes affected people all over the world who are suffering from high levels of obesity / overweight individuals, there is a need to take measures that will benefit the cardiovascular system (the heart).
Experts are now recommending certain levels of exercise that will have a beneficial effect on the heart, and recommend that diabetes affected individuals do carry out an exercise regime in which they do atleast the minimum recommended (link to article):
Patients with type 2 diabetes should do at least two-and-a-half hours per week of moderate-intensity or one-and-a-half hours per week of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercises, plus some weight training, to reduce their cardiovascular risk, researchers suggest. According to an American Heart Association scientific statement, diet and exercise can prevent or slow the development of type 2 diabetes and produce clinically significant improvements in blood sugar control and cardiovascular risk factors in people with the condition.
Patients should exercise on at least three non-consecutive days each week to maximize benefits. Individual sessions should be at least 10 minutes each or longer.
Resistance training should be encouraged, and should be moderate to high-intensity 2-4 sets of 8-10 repetitions at a weight that can’t be lifted more than 8-10 times, with 1-2-minute rest periods between sets.
Unfortunately, with the prevalence of high starch diets, increasing convenience of mechanical locomotion (cars, escalators, elevators), and more busy life styles, people are moving away from even minimum levels of exercise. However, you cannot run away from diabetes, and need to ensure that you do whatever is necessary to fight it.
Topics: Exercise, Heart, Helpful, Type 2 | No Comments »
Diabetes research: Link between hypertension, diabetes, and heart attacks
By Diabetes Affected | May 2, 2009
Diabetes is a major affliction that comes with many side effects, some of which are known, and others are those which researches are still finding out. The effect of higher sugar levels in the blood is linked to hypertension, and heart disease, and here is an article that tries to establish the link between them (link to article):
Researchers from A.O.U. in Cagliari Sardegna, Italy have found a link between increased carotid artery wall thickness (CAWT) - which can cause heart attack and stroke- and diabetes and hypertension.
During the study, the researchers looked at 186 patients with the help of multidetector row CT and sought to determine association between CAWT is associated with cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia and a history of smoking. The results showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between diabetes and hypertension.
What this means is that people who have higher levels of thickness of their carotid walls combined with diabetes need to go in for more frequent medical examinations, and get themselves checked periodically. They are at higher risk, and need to ensure that they are aware of that.
Topics: Article, Complications, Research, Risk, Risk Factors, Study | No Comments »
Diabetes research: Being able to diagnose diabetes through spit testing
By Diabetes Affected | May 1, 2009
Diabetes is an affliction that affects a large number of persons nowadays. One big problem is about early detection, since a person who has diabetes which is not being detected and treated can suffer many problems. There is no control on the intake of sugar, or treatment with drugs to control the growth of sugar levels in the body, and consequently the problem of higher level of sugar in the body keeps on growing, in many cases, being detected only when the patient starts to suffer damage. However, current checking through the blood test is traumatic for many people, and for those who cannot stand a needle, it is very problematic. There is research ongoing about how to detect diabetes through other means, and this article talks about using the human spit for this purpose (link to article):
While searching for biomarkers that may indicate diabetes, doctors examined the saliva of 40 different patients. Through salivary analysis, they managed to devise a new ‘non-invasive’ method for detecting diabetes that foregoes the uncomfortable prick of a needle- patients need only to spit into a cup.
“Our goal was to characterize proteins in human saliva that may indicate prediabetes and type-2. Analysis of these proteins allowed us to develop a new method for screening, detecting and monitoring the diabetic state,” said Srinivasa R Nagalla, MD, and a member of the research team.
If this technique does become successful, it will be of big help in being able to detect diabetes much earlier than possible for a large number of patients.
Topics: Detection, Diagnosis, Research, Study | No Comments »
Sleep and diabetes - getting not too much more, not too much less
By Diabetes Affected | April 23, 2009
There are a number of factors that are risk factors for getting diabetes (specially the Type 2 variety). These include factors such as the diet, hereditary factors, the amount of exercise that a person gets, and a few others, but very few people would have expected that sleep would be one of the factors. A study has found that too much or too little sleep can affect whether a person developes Type 2 diabetes, or impaired glucose tolerance (link to article):
The risk is 2½ times higher for people who sleep less than 7 hours or more than 8 hours a night, according to the study published in journal Sleep Medicine. To reach the conclusion, researchers analysed the life habits of 276 subjects over a 6-year period. They determined that over the timespan, approximately 20 percent of those with long and short sleep duration developed type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance versus only 7 percent among subjects who were average duration sleepers.
The researchers also point out that diabetes is not the only risk associated with sleep duration. A growing number of studies have shed light on a similar relationship between sleep and obesity, cardiovascular disease, and overall mortality. The authors observe that among adults, between 7 and 8 hours of nighttime sleep appears to be the optimum duration to protect against common diseases and premature death.
Even though people know that getting atleast 7-8 hours of sleep is optimum, more and more people are getting much lower levels of sleep, not realizing that this fast pace of life is affecting their health.
Topics: Article, Research, Risk, Risk Factors, Study | No Comments »
Article: Gestational diabetes increase obesity risk in children
By Diabetes Affected | March 12, 2009
In a study that deals with the impact of gestational diabetes of the mother on children (the effect of the version of diabetes that develops during pregnancy), this article explains that children who are born to mothers who developed gestational diabetes when they were pregnant, are more likely to become overweight or peers (link to article):
Researchers from the Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, Oregon, and colleagues studied nearly 10,000 mother-child pairs enrolled in Kaiser Permanente plans in Hawaii and in the Pacific Northwest during the period from 1995 to 2000. Women with pre-existing diabetes were excluded. A follow-up with the children 5-7 years later revealed a significant association between their weight and their mothers’ blood glucose levels when tested during pregnancy.
Topics: Article, Child, Complications, Gestational, Obesity, Pregnancy, Prevention, Research, Risk, Risk Factors, Study, Women | No Comments »
Gestational Diabetes - Affects pregnant women
By Diabetes Affected | February 16, 2009
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that starts during pregnancy. If you have diabetes, your body isn’t able to use the sugar (glucose) in your blood as well as it should, so the level of sugar in your blood becomes higher than normal. It is temporary in nature and it disappears after pregnancy but there is 70% of good chance of it recurring.
Causes for developing Gestational diabetes:
1. Family history.
2. High blood sugar in previous pregnancy
3. Obesity in females.
4. Miscarriage
5. Previous delivery of large baby(greater than 9 pounds).What is the effect of gestational diabetes on the Child :
1. Obesity
2. Jaundice
3. Low blood sugar level.
4. Respiratory problem
5. Shoulder problemsHow can you do the Diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes ?
1. Diagnosed between 24th and 28th week of pregnancy.
2. Weak and heavy
3. The mother’s increased blood sugar levels are transferred to baby. This, in turn, causes the pancreas, which start working within 11 weeks of conception, to produce extra insulin to get rid of this sugar. Insulin is a growth hormone and as the baby starts getting more energy than it needs, it gets stored as fat which leads to weight gain. This may require delivery by caesarean.Gestational diabetes can affect your pregnancy and your baby. However, you can minimize the risks by making healthy lifestyle choices.
1. Control your blood sugar levels.
2. Eat a healthy diet : Include more fruits in your diet and cut down your intake of pasteries, cakes, chocolates.
3. Keep doing moderate exercises.
4. Keep a track of your overall weight.Topics: Child, Gestational, Pregnancy, Women | No Comments »
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