Diabetes Week (12th – 18th June)

As exams finally wind down to a close (praise. the. Lord.) – people are less concerned with caffeine pills to keep them alert for their exams. Instead, alcohol and other sugary substances are taking precedence in order to relax/energise ourselves during those long summer days. But who can blame us? We’ve worked ourselves into maximum overdrive, so healthier alternatives are not worth caring for when all we want to do is enjoy our break.

However, is it no secret that all these sugary substances have been doing more bad than good. Personally, I learned this when a few days ago my friend, D, was diagnosed with diabetes. However, when talking to her about this, a lot of risk factors (those I knew and didn’t know) stood out as being warning signs for the life long condition. Most of these are only for Type 2 (as Type 1 is still being researched), including:

 

– Family history of diabetes (also relevant for Type 1)

– Being overweight

– Having an unhealthy diet (I don’t ramble about good health on my blogs for nothing!)

– Physical inactivity

– High blood pressure

– Ethnicity (especially of South Asian descent [yay…])

 

Although it is highly unlikely that you’ll have all of the symptoms available, exam season does unfortunately promote some unhealthy behaviours, such as lack of physical activity and an unhealthy diet (apps such as Just-Eat are so unbelievably easy to obtain food from, even after reading my previous blogs about eating healthy during exam season). As a result, it turns out that once exams are over it is probably the best idea to return to healthier eating and limited alcohol/sugar consumption! Who knew?

 

According to Diabetes UK, it is estimated that 3.5 million people in the UK alone suffer from diabetes, and another half a million don’t even know that they have the condition as of yet! Diabetes Week (12th – 18th June) is to raise awareness for those who have this condition, and to cancel out the myths associated with having/obtaining diabetes. To ensure you don’t catch the condition too late, here are some quick symptoms (In Type 1 these symptoms are very sudden and dramatic, but in Type 2 these are quite mild or even absent):

 

– Frequent urination

– Excessive thirst

– Increased hunger

– Tiredness and a lack of concentration

– Weight loss

– Tinging sensation/numbness in hands and feet

 

So what can you do to help? By clicking the Diabetes UK link, click on the header “Get Involved” and see the many different activities you can do to raise awareness/”set the record straight” for this very prevalent condition – including holding a Patron’s Lunch for the Queen’s 90th birthday!

 

Best wishes.x