Type 2 diabetes mellitus is more commonly known as diabetes, or adult onset diabetes. It is believed that many of the cases are preventable, but if you don’t know the common causes of diabetes, you won’t even have a chance at trying to prevent it.
Knowing the symptoms is important if you are at risk, but perhaps the first step would be to understand the most common causes of diabetes. Believe it or not, it’s not that much of a mystery what the biggest risk factors are, yet millions of Americans don’t know these common causes of diabetes and worse yet, many know them but do nothing to try to avoid them. It seems that much of the population lives in a state of self-denial about their own bad habits, thinking the risk must lie with somebody else. Don’t be one of these people. You do have a chance to avoid developing the condition if you simply avoid the most common causes of diabetes.
There is no guarantee that doing your best to avoid these factors that are thought to cause type 2 diabetes, but your odds sure will go up.
Weight
Almost all the experts agree that number one on the list of common causes of diabetes is being overweight or obese. Fat causes the body’s cells to become more resistant to the effect of insulin. So it stands to reason that obesity is probably the biggest of all risk factors. And it is no secret that as a nation, obesity is becoming more of a problem with each year.
When the body’s cells don’t react as they should to insulin because of excess fat, they don’t take up as much glucose, or blood sugar. This sugar then remains in the blood and builds up to unhealthy levels. With weight loss, the body’s cells can become more sensitive to insulin.
Lack of Exercise or Activity
Inactivity is another of the common causes of diabetes. The Mayo clinic has concluded that physical activity makes the cells more sensitive to insulin’s effects, because the cells need to use glucose as fuel, or energy, to burn during periods of activity.
Furthermore, physical activity burns calories and helps keep the weight off. So if you can commit to even a moderate amount of physical activity every week you will be helping to prevent type 2 diabetes and contributing to preventing one of the most common causes of diabetes. Exercise takes care of two problems at once.
Family History or Genetics
Some people may be predisposed to developing diabetes of either type. If you have a family history of a sibling or parent with type 2 diabetes, your chances go up of developing it yourself. There isn’t much you can do about your family history or genetics, but since you know that two of the most common causes of diabetes are obesity and a sedentary lifestyle you should eat right and get some exercise if you have a history of diabetes in your family.
It really isn’t that difficult to do your part in trying to avoid this 7th leading cause of death in the U.S. but it’s surprising how many people won’t even try to avoid these two common causes of diabetes. How about you?
