Type 2 Diabetes - Sleep and Diabetes Prevention!

For some people, the key to better weight control might just lie in a good night's sleep. There are a series of hormonal reactions to lack of sleep that could play a role: in increased cortisol and lower growth hormone, for example. Studies published as early as 2007 have associated sleep deprivation with Type 2 diabetes. Recent studies show associations with metabolic syndrome and insulin secretion.

Study 1: According to a study published in 2011 in the journal Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine, getting enough rest could be helpful in preventing the metabolic syndrome. Researchers in the Department of Preventive Medicine, Woniu College of Medicine, Yonsei University in Korea, looked at short sleep duration and the metabolic syndrome in middle-aged people... and their results should encourage people not to neglect sleep.

Metabolic syndrome was defined as a combination of:

high waist circumference,high blood cholesterol,high blood pressure, andhigh blood sugar.

Three hundred and eighty-six men and 721 women were included in the study. Participants sleeping 6 hours or less per day were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome than those who slept 6 to 7.9 hours per day. The association was seen only in women, but more women were included in the study.

Study 2: The journal Diabetes Care, published in October 2011, reported the results of a study on changes in insulin secretion and sensitivity in volunteers who got little sleep and also had parents diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. The research was conducted at the University of Chicago in the United States:

Forty-seven healthy people were included in the study. Those who got an average of 1.5 hours less sleep than more well-rested volunteers, had more insulin resistance and secreted more insulin to maintain the same tolerance for sugar. In susceptible individuals, such as those with a family history of Type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance can lead to full-blown type 2 diabetes.

According to a report in the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research October 2011, loss of sleep could interfere with the hypothalamus, a part of the brain involved in functions such as hunger, which could affect the pituitary and adrenal glands, which indirectly have to do with the regulation of blood sugar. Sleep loss could alter the normal patter of growth hormone, which is released from the pituitary and has to do with blood sugar levels.

Sleep deprivation also increases tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6, both involved in inflammation and diabetes. With lack of sleep the body suffers from lack of leptin and adiponectin, molecules that help to regulate fat metabolism and insulin sensitivity.

It is true sleep deprivation has become epidemic in the industrialized world, but that need not be the case. Getting your full eight hours of sleep is not a luxury, so put aside enough time each night for getting enough rest.

To discover answers to questions you may be asking yourself about Type 2 Diabetes, click on this link... Natural Diabetes Treatments

Diabetic Nephropathy - Diagnosis, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention

Diabetic nephropathy is a kidney disease that is caused by diabetes. You may be diabetic nephropathy when there is much inflammation, glucose, and also acid waste in the bloodstream so that the small capillaries feeding into the kidneys will be clogged. The accumulation of acid waste will ultimately damage kidney cells.

When the kidney cells are damaged or die, you will have a higher risk of kidney failure. The kidneys will get deteriorated faster if you keep eating unhealthy foods such as conventional animal meat or other highly processed foods, drink alcohol, and also smoke cigarettes. Diabetic nephropathy is in fact the most common cause end-stage kidney disease and chronic kidney failure in the U.S.

1. Symptoms

Patients of both diabetes type 1 and 2 are at risk of diabetic nephropathy. Unfortunately, there are no symptoms in the early stage of the condition but eventually kidney function will start declining. Later, there may be symptoms such as the following:

- Fatigue

- Frequent hiccups

- Poor appetite

- General ill feeling

- Foaming urine

- Nausea and vomiting

- Weight gain (unintentional)

- Headache

- Swelling of the legs

- Swelling around the eyes (occurs in the mornings)

2. Diagnosis

To be able to find out whether you are diabetic nephropathy or not, you can take a test which checks for the albumin or protein in the urine, since in a normal condition urine does not contain protein. Protein may appear in the urine 5 to 10 years prior to the development of other symptoms.

When you are type 1 diabetic, it is recommended to perform a urine test yearly after you are living with the condition for 5 years. When you are type 2 diabetic, immediately perform yearly urine test after being diagnosed. If any doubt occurs in the diagnosis, a biopsy is usually performed.

3. Treatment

You can avoid worse kidney disease and stay away from its complications by lowering high blood pressure or hypertension. Your doctor may prescribe you some medications for this, such as ACE inhibitors and ARBs.

However, please remember that drugs will not give long-term results!

Don't be dependent on drugs. You should consume healthy foods that can help with diabetic nephropathy, such as more vegetables and get your source of protein from chicken, instead of red meat. For those with kidney problems, research has shown that chicken is a better alternative. You should also do regular physical activity.

4. Prevention

Preventing is better than treating. To be able to do this, you can have a plant-based diet, such as raw salads and raw vegetable juices. When you are type 1 or type 2 diabetic, do an annual checkup with your doctor. Also, remember to regularly control your blood pressure.

For kidney health, stay away from highly processed foods and include more green vegetables in your diet like kale and spinach. Don't forget to get the useful omega-3 from fish like wild salmon and sardines.

Fish Oil And Diabetes Prevention For Baby Boomers

As baby boomers, the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes becomes a real threat in our lives, and prevention becomes critical. The good news is that we know there is a definite link between fish oil and diabetes prevention.

Type 2 diabetes is linked with other problems, such as high cholesterol, and hypertension, and obesity, which our entire society seems is suffering with.

As baby boomers it is critical to our health, mind, and lifestyle to eat a healthy diet that includes fiber and whole grains, get enough exercise, and stay trim, to get the most from our senior years.

It doesn't seem so long ago that we were stirring up the world with new ideas, raising hell on campuses, getting stoned, and loosing our friends (and more) to war, and never having a clue we would be in our 60s.

Well, we made it, but some of us have slipped into a sedentary life style and become obese, as we near, or enter our retirement years, and this is really a downer for the revolution that we began some 45 or 50 years ago.

If you fit, you can change your life and drastically improve your health with fish oil and diabetes prevention by some simple lifestyle changes that could save your life and life style. And there's no time like now to get started, because Type 2 diabetes is irreversible.

Here are 4 tips that will get your health and mind back in the groove again:

Get Some Physical Exercise

If you can walk for 30 minutes most days of the week, you will get the blood circulating to all parts of your body, including your brain. Some sort of exercise every day will prompt you to lose some weight, and will lower your blood sugar, while boosting your insulin sensitivity. Any sustained exercise of 30 minutes will help keep your blood sugar normal.

Get A Lot OF Fiber

Fibers are foods like fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. When you eat a diet rich in fiber you will

improve control of your blood sugar

boost your ability to lose those extra pounds because they make you feel full

lower your risk of heart disease: Studies have shown that your 40% less apt to have a heart attack with 25 grams of fiber a day.

Eat Whole Grains

The Mayo Clinic doesn't know why, but eating whole grains reduces the risk of cancer and lowers blood pressure. So eat whole grain bread, pasta, and whole grain cereals for diabetes prevention and a good heart.

Loose Some Weight

You can reduce your risk of diabetes substantially with every pound you loose. Studies show that by reducing your weight by as little as 5% can cut your risk by over 50%. Now that's something, and think about the clothes you could wear again.

Times are easy now, and we can get laid back and enjoy life and the grandchildren, but we need to stay healthy and fit to get the most out of life.

Obesity and diabetes go together and are both killers, and we're lucky to know today that omega-3 fish oil supplements can help prevent diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and a host of other problems.

As we get into the second half of our lives, remember that fish oil and diabetes prevention for baby boomers is a no brainer for us semi-old timers.