What Does Diabetes Do? When you have diabetes, the body has too much blood glucose in it. This can be caused by more than one factor—for example, those with Type 1 diabetes have elevated blood sugar because the pancreas doesn’t produce insulin or doesn’t produce it effectively. With Type 2 diabetes, the body doesn’t effectively process blood sugar. This type is the most common by far.
Diabetes Risk Factors
- Family history
- Infection
- Illness
- Disease of pancreas
- Obesity
- Sedentary lifestyle
What Diabetes Symptoms Would I Have?
Every person experiences a medical condition differently, so your symptoms might differ from others with diabetes. But in general, if your blood sugar is elevated you may experience a range of symptoms, including increased thirst, frequent urination, weight loss or gain, blurry vision, slow-healing wounds and extreme hunger. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to lower your risk altogether. Create a healthy lifestyle to minimize your risk.How to Lower Diabetes Risk
- Exercise regularly, aiming for 30 minutes on most days of the week.
- Eat a balanced diet, low in added sugars.
- Stay hydrated, mainly drinking water.
- Get plenty of quality sleep.
- Watch your portion sizes at meals and snacks.
- Get to—and maintain—a healthy weight.