Six Ways to Help Manage Type 2 Diabetes – P4

Error 4 - Neglecting Other Problems

In your efforts to manage diabetes, do not forget about other problems you may encounter. Depression, stress, and sleep disorders also have an effect on the management of diabetes. So in the process of learning about diabetes, learn about these as well. If you have other chronic illnesses, then you have more to learn and how each disease affect the other. All can lead to increased blood glucose levels.

Because diabetes is a 24/7/365 management demand, depression can be a large part of diabetes and one creates risks for the other. Learn to recognize the signs of depression so that you can take measures to minimize the effects and possibly avoid problems as depression can make diabetes management a very difficult task.

Treatment of depression definitely improves the mental and physical health of people with diabetes. So don't ignore the benefits and let the doctor discussion this and find a good medication fit for you. Even though the article in WebMD states that people with diabetes are twice as likely to have depression, studies show that this in more like 67 percent and then another 19 percent can have serious depression. Please don't ignore depression.

Stress is a factor that many people want to ignore, but please don't as it can produce hormones that hamper the ability of insulin to do what it does. Both patients and physicians need to take this into consideration and use activities that will reduce or eliminate stress. Exercise helps relieve stress and meditation and massage have benefits in improving blood glucose levels.

Some of the tips for easing depression also are applicable to stress. Read my blog here. For stress you need to add yoga and Tai Chi as they can assist in stress reduction.

Sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, insomnia, and others can wreck havoc to your diabetes management. You need to talk to your doctor about any of these so that you can manage them as well. Improper amounts of restful sleep makes blood glucose management that much more difficult to manage. Sometimes weight loss is in order and for others, just getting adequate amount of sleep for your needs helps is diabetes management.

As promised in part 1, read the entire article here.