Diabetes is a lifestyle disease that has crept into most households. Young and old are being affected by this disease, which often is not life threatening on its own but affects the quality of life and other aspects of wellness to become fatal. However before we look at how diabetes affects us we do need to understand that diabetes is a very general term for to possible hormonal disorders. Diabetes Insipidus is a disease caused by the disorder of a hormone called Anti Diuretic Hormone. But its is Diabetes Mellitus that is more commonly known to people. This is a disease caused by the ineffective functioning of the hormone insulin, which might be in two ays. The insulin might be produced less by the body on account often secreting cells the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas being ineffective. Or the insulin might be ineffective and not stimulate the receptors enough to bring about the metabolic changes that it should. It is diabetes mellitus that is wide spread and the affliction is more commonly referred to as blood sugar.
The insulin dysfunction affects the sugar breakdown or glycolysis, making it more available and hence the blood sugar level goes up. This is an indicator of the disease a symptom rather than the disease. Its cousin hormone glucagon which helps in creating glucose by processes like neoglucogenesis that help convert fat and protein into glucose. High blood glucose level over a prolonged period means various parts of your body get slowly affected. There is a possibility of your eyes getting affected through a condition called Diabetic retinopathy, wherein essentially the retina is affected and there is a disintegration of the retina leading to progressive blindness of the eye. Diabetic nephropathy is the kidney being affected with the nephrons, the building blocks of the kidney being affected and the filtration of the blood of impurities slowly going down until it is in such condition that you need dialysis on a consistent basis due to the kidney failure. Diabetic neuropathy is another condition where the neurones the units of the nervous system being affected with sensation going off particularly in the outer limbs. Often gangrene formation happens requiring amputation. Beyond these serious conditions, the body becomes susceptible to various other conditions. The basic healing process of the body is majorly affected in conditions of diabetes. An injury takes longer to heal, an infection takes longer to subside. In fact infection and sugar are mutually symbiotic with high sugar tending to fan infection, and infection tending to spike sugar, thus causing a viscous cycle. The body also becomes more susceptible to conditions of cardio vascular complications. Another major issue with diabetics is conditions of hypo glycemic occurring while being a diabetic. The body is used to a certain level of blood sugar, and if the sugar suddenly falls to low levels, the body reacts. The defence mechanism may kick in by trying to make available glucose from various sources of the body like break down of complex carbohydrates of the body like glycogen or fat to free glucose necessary for the metabolic processes of the body. Failing this the body might go into shock in what is referred to as hypoglycaemic shock, leading up to coma.
Consequently diabetes is a disease which needs management of lifestyle, and is something where one needs to learn to live with it to live on. India is a country with over 7.7 crore diabetics, and to combat this explosion we need to incorporate certain adjustment sin ,life like glucovigilance, exercise, right eating and ways a d means to compartmentalise stress. As Wasim Akram has showed us living a healthy life and continuing with an active profession like sport is possible even with diabetes. Glucovigilance is essentially the monitoring of your blood glucose to check if it’s going askew either side and taking corrective necessary. SMBG or Self Monitoring of Blood glucose using a glucometer is the foundation of diabetes management. It enables us to set up a pattern of when the blood glucose tends to be high or low within the day and hence set up a corrective action,. If we are insulin dependent, the dosage of insulin maybe adjusted according to the trend. A heavy meal can be followed up with a quick check or an episode of exercise to check the sugar level; and correct the high or low blood sugar..
Exercise and calorie management is an important part of the lifestyle adjustments that diabetes demands. Since blood sugar level is the key component of the disease the easiest way to control it is to control the intake and also burn out any excess by means of exercise. Diabetics often break the 3 meal pattern that way typically follow by having 5 meals of smaller portions so that calorie traffic is limited at a time, yet the bodies calorie needs are adequately met. A daily exercise regime of 30 minutes brisk walking at least is also a habit that should be incorporated in ones lifestyle if you are a diabetic. Playing a sport like badminton or tennis or running is a good habit that helps burn excess calories and keep the body lean.
Diabetes is essentially a lifestyle disease and as part of the lifestyle management one needs to cope with an inadvertent but unavoidable harm-stress. Stress has crept into our life as omnipresent as a spouse or sibling. To manage diabetes however stress needs to be relieved and compartmentalisation of it to enable us to mange counter it is necessary. Yoga and meditation are ways that help us to keep stress in check and to move towards a balanced lifestyle that is essential to manage diabetes.
Diabetes when controlled through the above means allows us to lead a near normal life. But uncontrolled diabetes leads to a whole lot of complications which may cause us to live a life that is not only disease ridden, but also the quality is so encumbered that it becomes miserable. But with stress and sedentary life styles becoming more in vogue the incidences of the diabetes is one sharp upward curve and India has the second largest population of diabetics globally. It is increasingly affecting people irrespective of age and background, with even children often being diabetics. The essentials of diabetes management there fore become critical, with calorie management and exercising being required to be incorporated in our life style irrespective of whether we have the disease or not. Glucovigilance and correction being the second most important thing once we are diagnosed with diabetes. Living with Diabetes is a way of life today that is necessary and often unavoidable, but with the right approach definitely possible.
