Lifestyle

For someone with diabetes, the ways of life, values, and attitudes often affect the disease.

You’ve probably heard it a million times already. If you smoke, quit. Smoking is especially dangerous for people with diabetes. In addition to all the harmful effects on your lungs, smoking raises your blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure. When you have diabetes and use tobacco, the risk of heart and blood vessel problems is much worse. So, if you have diabetes, then quitting is the single most important thing you can do for your health. If you quit smoking, you'll dramatically lower your risk for heart attack, stroke, nerve disease, kidney disease, and oral disease.

Within 20 Minutes of Quitting...

• Within 20 minutes after you smoke that last cigarette, your body begins a series of changes that continue for years.
• 20 minutes after quitting, your heart rate drops.
• 12 hours after quitting, carbon monoxide levels in your blood drops to normal.
• 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting, your heart attack risk begins to drop. Your lung function begins to improve.
• 1 to 9 months after quitting, your coughing and shortness of breath decrease.
• 1 year after quitting, your added risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker's.
• 5 years after quitting, your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker's 5 - 15 years after quitting.
• 10 years after quitting, your lung cancer death rate is about half that of a smoker's. Your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decreases.
• 15 years after quitting, your risk of coronary heart disease is back to that of a nonsmoker's.

In addition to smoking, there are many things in your life that can affect diabetes control. For example:

• Alcohol (can lower blood sugar)
• Excess body weight (can increase blood sugar)
• High blood pressure (can worsen diabetes complications)
• Emotions (stress and depression) can affect diabetes control
• Using medications (exactly as your doctor ordered)

If you would like to discuss how your lifestyle might affect your diabetes control, please contact your doctor or ConditionCare.