Contents:
- Medical Video: Smoking Cessation and Diabetes Johns Hopkins Research Update
- The risk for people with diabetes who smoke
- Can I get diabetes from smoking?
- Tips for quitting smoking
Medical Video: Smoking Cessation and Diabetes Johns Hopkins Research Update
You must have heard thousands, if not millions, of the dangers of smoking. In a way, this one habit is agreed upon by many people as a bad habit that damages health, even by the smoker.
The nicotine content in cigarettes works like cocaine. It is accepted by the brain and makes the brain release the hormones dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins which affect a person's happy sensation. That's why many people are addicted and cannot escape this habit. If in people with normal health conditions, cigarettes can damage, then what about those who have diabetes? The answer is clear. Smoking can aggravate a person's diabetes condition.
The risk for people with diabetes who smoke
Smoking has proven to be a risk factor for diabetes and increases the risk of complications in diabetic patients. Continuing this bad habit when you are diagnosed with diabetes can lead to difficulties in controlling blood sugar and increasing blood sugar levels. Uncontrolled blood sugar for a long time can cause diabetics to be one step closer to complications.
Diabetes has been known as the mother of all diseases that carry various kinds of complications in the body if not controlled properly. One complication of diabetes that is common in people with type two diabetes is heart disease, stroke, and blood circulation problems. While cigarettes also have a way of working similar to diabetes in causing cardiovascular problems that lead to heart disease. When both are combined, the resulting bad effects will certainly come sooner.
When someone smokes, blood vessels will be narrowed by substances contained in cigarettes. Not to mention the sugar content in the blood that is owned by diabetics. The combination of the two will create deposits that increasingly accumulate in the walls of the blood vessels, thus disrupting blood circulation. When this happens in the heart arteries, a heart attack can occur. Meanwhile, if buildup occurs in the blood vessels of your brain, it is likely that a stroke may be experienced.
Can I get diabetes from smoking?
Smoking is proven to increase the risk of insulin resistance which causes the body to no longer be able to produce insulin properly. And insulin resistance often leads to diabetes, especially type two diabetes.
Type two diabetes is the most common form in smokers, considering that this type of diabetes is caused by an unhealthy lifestyle. Noted, smokers have a 30-40 percent chance of developing diabetes compared to those who are not smokers. Meanwhile, those who have diabetes and exposed smoking are more likely to have diabetes that is not controlled.
Other studies also mention that smoking can increase fat around the abdomen, even in people who do not suffer from obesity. Excessive fat accumulation in the abdomen is also one of the factors causing obesity.
Tips for quitting smoking
There is no way to reduce the risk of smoking and diabetes besides stopping it. However, the opiate effects that are felt sometimes make it difficult for some to break away from this one activity. Reducing consumption gradually can be an alternative, although it turns out that research shows that those who stop immediately can survive better.
Here are some tips that might help you quit smoking:
- Determine date. Set the date on which you will do it, but don't go too far and talk to the person closest to you so they help remind.
- Make this activity unpleasant. Get rid of cigarettes, ashtrays, matches from places that you can reach, so you will find it more difficult to find tools that can make it easier for you to smoke.
- Spend time in a place where you are not allowed to smoke.
- If the desire to smoke cigarettes is very large, hold your breath for 10 seconds and exhale slowly.
- Redesign your routine. Someone usually smokes along with other activities such as reading a newspaper. Do activities that involve more interaction with others.
- Consider seeking therapy, such as acupuncture, laser therapy, or psychotherapy
- Consider using drugs, such as Bupropion and Varenicline, both of which are prescription non-nicotine drugs.
- Look for other activities that are fun for you. That way, you will realize that you can still have fun without cigarettes.
