Diabetes Health & Wellness – SMOKING
Jackie Jung is a Registered Nurse and a Certified Diabetes Educator at the Manitouwadge Diabetes Health & Wellness Program
Every day we make choices that affect our health. Take these important four steps to make your lifestyle healthier and to start to prevent or reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and pre-diabetes:
1. Eat a healthy, balanced diet
- Eat a diet with lots of variety
- Eat 5 to 10 fruits and vegetables a day. (Canada’s Food Guide )
- Eat more fibre
- Eat less fat and salt
- Limit the amount of alcohol you drink
- Select appropriate portion sizes
2. Ensure regular physical activity
- Be active at least 30 minutes every day
- Include activities that build endurance, strength and flexibility
- Find activities that you enjoy and that include your family
3. Don’t smoke
- If you smoke, it’s never too late to quit
- Avoid second-hand smoke
4. Keep your health in check
- Get enough sleep and rest
- Be active – physical activity is a great way to reduce stress
- Manage high blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose
Smoking + Diabetes
Smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day can increase your risk of developing diabetes to more than three times that of non-smokers. The exact reason for this isn’t well understood. It may be that smoking directly decreases the body’s ability to utilize insulin. Moreover, it has been observed that after smoking, blood sugar levels increase. Finally, there is also an association between smoking and body fat distribution – smoking tends to encourage the “apple” shape – which is a risk factor for diabetes.
So…..that’s one more reason to quit, right? (3)
Smoking + Health
- The top road block to overall good health is smoking.
- It’s the leading cause of cancers of the lung, mouth, sinus, throat, esophagus, stomach, kidneys and more. Serious diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, arterial sclerosis, and strokes are also caused or exacerbated by smoking.
- It can raise your cholesterol and your blood glucose levels.
- If you have diabetes and you smoke, your risk for heart and circulatory damage goes way up, and diabetic complications can progress with more devastating effects.
Significance
Diabetes and smoking are both risk factors for narrowed blood vessels. Higher-than-normal blood sugar levels, experienced with pre-diabetes, causes damage to blood vessels. As a result, narrowed blood vessels make it more difficult for blood to travel throughout the body, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The carbon monoxide from smoking also damages blood vessels, causing dangerous plaque build-up and increasing the risk of narrowed vessels. Smoking can increase blood sugar. Tobacco use can increase insulin resistance and stimulate stress hormones. Insulin resistance and stress hormones make it harder to manage pre-diabetes and increase the risk of pre-diabetes becoming diabetes. Smokers should consider quitting to reduce this risk. (5)
- Canadian Diabetes Association Clinical Practice Guidelines Expert Committee. Canadian Diabetes Association 2008 Guidelines for the prevention and management of diabetes in Canada. Can J Diabetes. 2008;32(Suppl 1):S1-S201
- http://www.diabetes.ca/documents/for-professionals/CD–M._Karlsson–Fall_2009_.pdf
- http://www.medicinenet.com/diabetes_prevention/page5.htm
- http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cd-mc/diabetes-diabete/pa-ap-eng.php
- http://www.livestrong.com/article/232714-pre-diabetes-and-smoking/#ixzz1e6jjPrdx
