Recent studies have suggested that regularly getting a good night’s sleep may reduce insulin resistance, thus making your body cells more sensitive to insulin so as to help you better control your blood glucose level. You should aim to get at least six hours of restful sleep each night.
Research indicates that smoking significantly increases your risk of developing complications or worsening your diabetic complications. Remind yourself too of the many other benefits of not smoking such as reducing the risk of cancers, heart attack and stroke.
Remember that if you smoke, you do not only harm yourself but also your family and friends who inhale your tobacco smoke (passive smokers). If you are a smoker, make a decision to quit smoking today.
Stress adversely affects your blood glucose (and blood pressure) levels. People experiencing chronic stress may also find it harder to eat healthily.
They are more likely to eat (high-calorie) fatty and sugary foods even though they are not hungry (emotional eating) which would lead to weight gain, making it more difficult for you to control your diabetes.
Engaging in regular physical activity or exercise, getting adequate sleep and practising relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation and praying would also help. Discuss your problem and seek support from friends, family and, if necessary, your healthcare professional.
As a person who is taking full control of your health, you will need to empower yourself with appropriate knowledge and skills to manage your diabetes and any associated condition such as high blood pressure or abnormal blood fats levels.
You can achieve this by regularly attending health talks, seminars or workshops conducted by local organisations dedicated to diabetes and associated conditions.
You can also get information from reputable magazines and mass media write-ups. Through your smartphone or computer, you can also access authoritative websites (see Table 1) dedicated to the proper management of your diabetes.
Table 1: Institutions providing educational information on diabetes management and dietary advice
Diabetes is a lifelong disease and for which, at present, there is no effective cure. But diabetes can be managed and controlled so that you can live a healthy life. This is, however, easier said than done as it is difficult to convince people with diabetes to take good care of themselves.
For one, most people with type 2 diabetes (the commonest type of diabetes as 95 percent of diabetics have this) do not have obvious symptoms and think they are healthy. More importantly, serious complications of diabetes are usually not evident when diabetes is first diagnosed (except for the occasional diabetic ketoacidosis, heart attack or stroke that may occur at presentation).
Instead, diabetic complications involving small blood vessels such as eye disease (leading to blindness), nerve damage (including foot ulcers and leg amputations) and kidney disease (resulting in kidney failure and dialysis) or those involving large blood vessels (heart attack, stroke and peripheral arterial disease) would only be obvious after five to 10 years of poorly controlled diabetes.
Having been told that you have diabetes, you do not have to take it as a death sentence. Instead, take it as a blessing in disguise and consider it as a stern reminder for you to start taking good care of your health so that you can avoid the dreaded complications such as stroke or heart attack, blindness or kidney failure or losing your limbs.
We are confident that you will be successful in caring for your diabetes and remain well for the rest of your life. Table 2 provides the targets for optimal control of your diabetes; please make sure that you achieve these targets as much as possible as advised by your doctor. Discuss with him/her if you find difficulties in achieving these targets.
We hope that these tips are useful in helping you to take good care of your diabetes so as to avoid developing serious complications.
Table 2: Monitor your health parameters regularly and ensure they are within the recommended targets
* Weight (kg) / Height (m2); < = less than; > = more than
More tips on managing diabetes:
• Stick to a healthy and balanced diet, being physically active and reduce excess weight.
• Monitor your blood glucose at home and to keep your HbA1c to at least less than 7.0 percent.
• Look after your blood fats (cholesterol) and blood pressure as these two conditions are usually present in people with diabetes.
• See your doctor regularly (and not to miss appointments) so that checks and tests can be done on a regular basis to make sure that your diabetes control is on target and complications can be detected early so that effective treatment can be started.
• Take your medication as prescribed (and not change or stop without your doctor’s advice) and to keep a record of your progress.
Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Mustaffa Embong is a consultant diabetologist at the National Diabetes Institute (Nadi). -DATUK DR MUSTAFFA EMBONG
