Struggling With Diabetes? Find Out How To Feel Better.

Inquiring minds need to know since there is an increasing number of studies showing that yoga effectively reduces the key factors causing the disease, namely stress and obesity.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disorder that affects the way your body uses food for energy. Normally, the sugar you take in is digested and broken down to a simple sugar, known as glucose. The glucose then circulates in your blood where it awaits to enter cells to be used as fuel. Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, helps move the glucose into cells. A healthy pancreas adjusts the amount of insulin based on the level of glucose. However, if you have diabetes, this process breaks down, and blood sugar levels become too high. There are two main types of full-blown diabetes. People with Type 1 diabetes are completely unable to produce insulin. People with Type 2 diabetes can produce insulin, but their cells don't respond to it. In either case, the glucose can't move into the cells and blood glucose levels can become high. Over time, these high glu- cose levels can cause serious complications.

Pre-Diabetes

Pre-diabetes means that the cells in your body are becoming resistant to insulin or your pancreas is not producing as much insulin as required. With Pre-diabetes, blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be called diabetes. This is also known as "impaired fasting glucose" or "impaired glucose toler- ance". A diagnosis of pre-diabetes is a warning sign that diabetes will develop later. The good news: You can prevent Type 2 diabetes by losing weight, making changes in your diet and exercising.

The Statistics There are 20.8 million children and adults in the United States, 7% of the population, who have diabetes. While an estimated 14.6 million have been diagnosed with diabetes, 6.2 million people (or nearly one third) are unaware that they have the disease. Over two and a quarter million Canadians are estimated to have diabetes with about a third of the adults unaware they have the condition. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Canada. More than 60, 000 new cases are reported every year. Physical inactivity and unhealthy eating habits, leading to obesity, play a major role in the onset of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is controllable.

How Yoga Helps

Glucagon secretion is enhanced by stress.

Glucagon raises blood sugar levels. The action of glucagon is thus opposite to insulin. Yoga effectively reduces stress, thus reducing glucagon and often improving insulin action. Yoga reduces adrenaline, noradrenalin and cortisol in the blood. These are referred to as the "stress hormones" and are also responsible for increasing sugar levels in the blood. It is most likely through this mechanism in which yoga improves insulin action. Weight loss is induced by yoga. Muscular relaxation and development along with improved blood supply can stimulate insulin receptors which increase glucose uptake by muscle, thus reducing the blood sugar levels. High blood pressure and cholesterol are health factors that increase the likelihood of developing diabetes and diabetic complications .

Yoga has been proven to help regulate both. So to, many yoga postures produce a stretch on the pancreas, likely stimulating pancreatic function.

Have you done your downward dog today?

With love,

Grandmother's Kitchen