Essay on Diabetes: Causes, Symptoms and Risk Factors
Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. According to the statistics, about 90% of people suffering from diabetes have this particular type of the disease. Around 20 million US citizens have been diagnosed with diabetes, while 8 million people do not even know that they are suffering from this condition. The following essay on diabetes will examine the causes and effects of this disease. Among others, the type 2 diabetes essay presented below will analyze the symptoms that accompany this very type of the disease as well as the risk factors associated with the condition. The current essay on type 2 diabetes will try to answer the question what categories of people are more vulnerable to the condition and how this condition can be prevented. At the beginning of the paper, there is a need to give a general description of the type 2 diabetes to get a clear idea of what this disease means.
The above mentioned type of diabetes is known as a progressive condition, which means that the longer a person suffers from it, the most assistance he/she will require to cope with the level of glucose in the blood. This might require greater amounts of medications and in later years the constant injections of insulin. People suffering from this type of diabetes tend to produce insulin themselves, but their bodies are unable to use it in a right way. This means that people with type 2 diabetes are usually insulin resistant. Therefore, such people require injections of insulin for the glucose to penetrate the blood cells where it will be used to generate energy. Let us further analyze the most common symptoms of this condition. It needs to be noted that most symptoms develop gradually so a person eventually might be surprised if he/she is diagnosed with diabetes. This is because people tend to think that they have too insignificant symptoms for such a diagnosis. Here is a list of common symptoms of type 2 diabetes:
- The first symptom is revealed in the feeling of fatigue, when a person’s body does not get enough energy from the food they are eating. Therefore, such people might constantly feel tired.
- Extreme feeling of thirst is another common symptom of the disease. It does not matter how much a person drinks because in case of diabetes one would still feel dehydrated. The muscles in our body can be dehydrated if the level of glucose in the blood is high. The body would send a message to our brain that we need to drink greater amounts of liquid. This symptom is interrelated with the following one.
- Increased urination is a symptom of diabetes related to drinking great amounts of water in order to satisfy the constant feeling of thirst. As a person is drinking more, he/she would consequently suffer from frequent urination. In addition, the body will attempt to get rid of the excessive amounts of glucose by means of urination.
- Extreme feeling of hunger. Even if a person eats enough, he/she would still feel extremely hungry. This happens because our muscles are not getting enough energy from the products we consume, which is associated with the insulin resistance. That is why the tissues and muscles send us a message that we are hungry because the energy level would constantly be very low.
- Despite the extreme feeling of hunger, people suffering from diabetes tend to lose weight. This happens because the body of a diseased person does not get sufficient amount of nutrients from products and the body begins to get rid of fat in order to raise the level of energy. This eventually causes weight loss.
There are a number of other symptoms of diabetes like slow healing of wounds and poor vision. It should be mentioned that type 2 diabetes has a number of causes, some of which are related to genetics, while others are associated with the lifestyle. A mixture of these factors can lead to the insulin resistance as a major cause of diabetes. Let us analyze how genetics and lifestyle can lead to the development of this condition.
- Genetics plays a significant role in the development of type 2 diabetes because this disease can be inherited from parents. This does not mean that there is a 100% guarantee, but researchers have proved that there is some portion of risk to develop this condition if your mother or father is suffering from it. Thus, genetic mutations often play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes.
- Lifestyle is as important as the previous factors. Despite the fact that genetics can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes, one’s lifestyle choices can also worsen the situation. For example, even if you are susceptible to this disease, but take proper care about your health and body, you might never develop diabetes. If you stay physically fit and control your weight, you are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, even if your genes are mutated. There are three factors related to our lifestyle that can lead to the development of diabetes. These include lack of physical exercises, unhealthy eating and obesity. In this regard, overweight as one of the factors can make a person insulin resistant, which might result in diabetes.
The above risk factors of diabetes show that there is a need to lead a healthy lifestyle and do physical exercises on a regular basis. People who do not follow these prescriptions are especially vulnerable to the development of type 2 diabetes. We should take care of our eating habits and meal planning to prevent diabetes. It is recommended to avoid fatty foods and products lacking fiber. If a person eats enough grains, fruits and vegetables, he/she is less likely to suffer from the above condition. Therefore, our lifestyle plays a great role in our state of health. One needs to keep in mind that diabetes is a chronic disease that cannot be cured completely. That is why it is always better to prevent the negative consequences than suffer from the condition for many years.
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