Prediabetes
Prediabetes is a clinical condition in which a person has a higher blood glucose level than the normal glucose level but not as much high to be analyzed or diagnosed with diabetes. Blood glucose level ranges from a hundred to one hundred and twenty-five milligrams per dl (100-125mg/dl). Most of the people in the world are pre-diabetic.
Prediabetes is primarily borderline diabetes; you may have diabetes type 2 after prediabetes if you do not change your lifestyle. Most people don’t focus on their lifestyle, although they know they are prediabetes. This negligence leads to diabetes type 2 in most of the cases.
Signs of prediabetes:
Some people with prediabetes have no distinct signs, but the common symptoms or signs that you may be at risk of diabetes are as follows.
- One primary sign which you may notice is the dark color of skin, which is not present in the whole body but only areas near your neck, elbows, and knees.
- Increased thirst level
- Frequent urination
- Feeling fatigued all the time
- Blurred vision
The best way to know either you have prediabetes or not is the test of your blood glucose level in your body. Check with Dr. Achira as a diabetes doctor to see if you have the risk.
Causes of prediabetes:
There are many causes and risk factors of prediabetes:
Being overweight:
Overweight people are more like to be the victim of prediabetes. Especially abdominal obesity leads to prediabetes. Your cells will become resistant to the insulin if you have more muscle and tissue mass around your abdomen (belly)
High blood pressure:
High blood pressure is also associated with prediabetes, and it increases the risk of prediabetes.
Family history:
Inheritance is also a leading cause of prediabetes. If your parents or one of them or your siblings have diabetes, you may also be prediabetic. It would be best if you visited the doctor regularly; either one person in your home has diabetes.
High-stress level:
High-stress level leads to the prediabetes because no organs work properly until your stomach work properly. When you are in stress, your digestion process slows down, and your pancreas and other organs don’t function well, which causes prediabetes.
Age:
Diabetes can occur at any stage of your life, but the risk of prediabetes in mostly people increase after the age of 40. This risk may increase due to fewer activities after the age of 40 in most people.
Gestational diabetes:
If you are pregnant and you developed diabetes, then you and your baby both are at risk of developing pre-diabetes.
Lifestyle and Risk Factors:
The lifestyle that leads to prediabetes comprises of following factors:
Dietary habits:
Diet plays a vital role in causing and treating prediabetes. If you continuously take red meat and drink juices that are enriched with sugar, then you may be a pre-diabetic in the future. You can lower the risk of prediabetes by changing your dietary habits or patterns.
No physical workout:
If you are inactive in your life and are not doing anything physically, you are increasing risks of pre-diabetes by yourself. Physical activities help you to reduce your body weight and also use extra glucose as energy to complete that task and also enable your body cells to be sensitive to insulin.
Sleep:
Your sleep cycle is also significant in maintaining your health. If you have sleep disorders or you don’t take proper sleep at night, you are at risk of developing pre-diabetes. Mostly our hormones are formed and regulate at night, so 4-5 hours night sleep is necessary for everyone to avoid pre-diabetes.
Prevention of prediabetes:
If you focus on the prevention of diseases, you can avoid developing many diseases in your body.
Healthy food:
Try to eat healthy food, which is enriched with the nutrition value, and avoid the intake of junk food to prevent prediabetes.
Control your blood pressure:
Controlling your blood pressure is also a preventive measure to avoid prediabetes in the future.
Control your cholesterol:
By controlling cholesterol, you can avoid diabetes, and you can control cholesterol by eating fewer fats and burning more calories by different sources.
Lose excess weight:
If you are obese, you should lose your excess weight to avoid prediabetes. For more information about healthy life style click here. Dr. Achira is board certified with Obesity. Schedule an appointment with Dr. Achira to help you manage your weight.
What to do if you are prediabetic?
It can be treated through medicine or by following specific tips regularly. If you don’t want to take medicines, try these useful tips to cure your prediabetes. Effective changes in lifestyle help you to treat prediabetes in a short time.
Regular exercise:
Regular exercise is a good way to decrease your sugar level. If you take the good exercise, you can increase your insulin activity. Insulin activity or sensitivity means our cells can utilize sugar in our bloodstream. Exercise also helps our muscles to use blood sugar to gain energy and for muscle contraction. There are many exercises to cure diabetes. For example, running, walking, weight lifting, swimming, hiking, biking. Tennis and basketball are also essential to reduce the risk of diabetes and to cure diabetes.
How much exercise should one do to avoid and to treat prediabetes?
At initial steps, one should start with 15 minutes of easy exercise, and after one month, one should increase the period of the exercise according to stamina. A healthy person should do 1-hour exercise daily to keep himself/herself fit and smart for the whole life.
Controlled diet:
If you are willing to treat your prediabetes in a couple of months or weeks, you have to take a controlled diet.
Your diet should contain high protein and foods that contain high fiber in them, for example, vegetables, fruits, grains, low-fat dairy products. Fish and nuts are also beneficial to control your blood sugar level. You should not take those products which have sugar in them.
Leafy green vegetables are very good for prediabetic patients. These vegetables have good nutrition value and have low calories.
Eggs are the best source of antioxidants, and they are perfect for prediabetic patients. You should take two eggs daily to cure your diabetes. Eggs also reduce inflammation and decrease cholesterol levels.
Stay hydrated:
Drinking more water after regular intervals of time will keep your body hydrated and hence help to keep blood sugar level at a specific limit. If you drink plenty of water, you will reduce the risk of diabetes in your body. Try to drink more than 1 liter in a day. Taking a large amount of water decrease the onset of hyperglycemia and subsequent prediabetes.
If you have any risk factors or prediabetes signs, Schedule an appointment with Dr. Achira at 313-600-4669. Achira Endocrinology and Weight Loss Clinic has two locations. Click here to Contact us. Click here to schedule an appointment on Healow.
