How Diabetes Can Take a Toll on Your Overall Health

Over one in every 10 people in the United States has diabetes, nearly a quarter of whom don’t realize they have it. A chronic and serious disease, diabetes impacts the ways your body produces or uses insulin — a hormone that regulates your blood sugar (glucose).

While diabetes and its complications can take a major toll on your overall health, there are ways to better thrive. Tending to your diabetes needs may even enhance your health in ways you might’ve missed out on if you weren’t faced with the diagnosis. 

At Jeffery Tun, MD, with offices in Midtown East, Forest Hills, and the Queens neighborhoods in New York City, our experts take a modern approach to diabetes management.

Take a few minutes to learn more about diabetes, including potential complications and ways to minimize or prevent them.

Diabetes and your body

Since diabetes interferes with your glucose levels, it commonly leads to hyperglycemia, the medical term for high blood sugar. And when hyperglycemia becomes chronic or routine, the excessive blood sugar can cause serious damage to many parts of your body — in particular, your blood vessels and nerves. 

Diabetes complications and risks

Damaged blood vessels and nerves from diabetes can take a toll on your health in a variety of ways. Some of the most common problems include vision loss, total blindness, and foot ulcers that may lead to amputation. Numbness, joint damage, and weakness from diabetic neuropathy are also common.

Diabetes nerve and blood vessel damage affects your internal organs, too, raising your risk for life-threatening conditions like heart attack, kidney failure, and stroke.

Emotional stress linked with diabetes can also fuel mental health challenges, such as anxiety and depression. And when you’re stressed or depressed, you might struggle to eat, exercise, and sleep well — all of which can exacerbate blood sugar problems.

Improving your health while managing diabetes

Diabetes complications can seem daunting, but there is good news. Many of the practices involved with effectively managing the disease benefit everyone, including people without diabetes. Given that, working with our care team to ensure that your diabetes is well-controlled may pave the way to optimal health and well-being.

Such practices include:

• Cultivating healthy sleep habits, such as routine sleeping and waking times
• Eating primarily nutritious foods
• Eating balanced meals and snacks at regular time intervals
• Getting 150 minutes of moderately intense exercise per week
• Managing stress 

These healthy habits promote blood sugar control and help lower your risk for other chronic problems, like heart disease and hypertension. 

You should also stay in touch with your care team, scheduling all recommended exams, and take any prescribed medication as directed.

Meanwhile, contact our office if you notice signs of blood sugar problems, such as dizziness or excessive thirst, and if you’re having trouble following your treatment plan. 

To learn more about diabetes or get the care you need, call one of our offices or request an appointment through our website today.