TEACH + LEARN

DIABETES

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease that is due to insulin in your body not working well. It’s often a bit confusing but the easiest way to think about it is that diabetes is due to:

  1. Your body not making insulin: This is called Type 1 Diabetes
  2. Your body is not responding properly to insulin: This is called Type 2 Diabetes

So what is insulin anyways?

Insulin is a hormone that we all make in our bodies. We all need insulin!

 

What increases my risk for developing diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed in people who do not respond to insulin normally. There are a number of risk factors, some which we can control and some we cannot.

These are the risk factors you can control: 

  • Smoking
  • Obesity (click here to learn more)
  • Diet
  • Sleep apnea
  • High blood pressure
  • High cholesterol

Diseases that are associated with developing type 2 diabetes are:

  • Polycystic ovarian syndrome
  • Gestational diabetes
  • Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, depression