Prediabetes: What you need to know to prevent him from becoming diabetic

Prediabetes is the borderline state between normal glucose metabolism and diabetes. What you need to know to prevent the disease, said the endocrinologist, Deputy Chief Physician for the medical part of the health care institution “Minsk City Clinical Endocrinology Center” Elena Otlivanchik on the air of the talk show “PRO HEALTH” on the YouTube channel “SEE AND LIVE”, writes sb.by.

Elena Otlivanchik noted that prediabetes is a reversible condition, and prevention should be aimed at combating insulin resistance.

- It includes lifestyle modification, changing approaches to nutrition. First of all, it is necessary to exclude easily digestible carbohydrates and limit the intake of saturated fats. The second is to increase physical activity. Muscles are the main consumer of glucose. When exercising, they can consume glucose even without insulin. To reduce insulin resistance, 150 minutes of activity per week is enough. This also includes walking at a moderately fast pace available to you. By the way, an interesting fact: if we sit for more than 2-3 hours, we already start the mechanism of insulin resistance. Therefore, it is advisable to get up every hour and do a light warm-up, the doctor said.

In addition, she said, it is important to ensure healthy sleep and minimize stress.

Chronic lack of sleep and a constant state of tension is stress for the body. And during stress, we produce cortisol and adrenaline, insulin antagonists. That is, they prevent him from working fully, explained Elena Otlivanchik.

Speaking about what can help to cope with stress, the specialist stressed:

- First of all, it is necessary to ensure full sleep. If we do not get enough sleep, the level of stress hormones increases, we react more acutely to any, even minimally stressful situation. With stress also help to cope with regular physical activity. In addition, relaxation techniques, yoga, breathing techniques will help. There is, for example, a technique of breathing squared. It is proved that it reduces the concentration of stress hormones in the blood. You need to sit comfortably in a relaxed state, put one hand on the stomach, the second - on the chest. For 4 seconds, gently inhale through the nose, inflating the stomach, while the chest should remain motionless. Then we hold our breath for 4 seconds. Then we exhale smoothly for 4 seconds. Hold your breath for 4 seconds and breathe again. 5-7 cycles help calm our nervous system.

Watch the PRO HEALTH project on the Watch and Live YouTube channel every Sunday at 12:00. Specialists in various fields will answer popular questions of concern to everyone in simple language and with humor.