November is Diabetes Awareness Month.
According to the CDCMore than 38 million Americans have diabetes, with 90% to 95% of those having type 2 diabetes.
And on top of that, another 98 million Americans have prediabetes.
“We’re seeing this not just in the Western world, but also in the rest of the world,” said Dr. Peminda Cabandugama, an endocrinologist at the Cleveland Clinic. “It’s something that’s an eye-opener. And when you couple it with the obesity pandemic that we’re dealing with, I think there’s still a lot of work to be done in this area.”
Prediabetes occurs when your blood sugar level is elevated, but not high enough to indicate type 2 diabetes.
If left untreated, type 2 diabetes can cause serious health problems such as heart disease, kidney disease, stroke, vision loss and nerve damage.
Type 2 diabetes cannot be cured.
However, a person can reverse prediabetes.
So, how are you going to do that?
Cabandugama said by eating healthy and exercising regularly.
But those are not the only factors that play a role.
He said sleep and stress are also important.
“The world has changed from what we might have had a few years ago. The stress level is higher. Our sleep is not that good. Our diet is not that good. We tend to be more sedentary. Especially with COVID, I think we were a lot more sedentary,” he said. “And now I think people are starting to realize that a little bit. So all these concepts together have brought out all these chronic diseases and prediabetes is one of them, just as obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are part of them.”
Prediabetes is diagnosed using a blood test.
Symptoms are not always obvious and therefore annual checkups are important.
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