Prediabetes is a condition where you accidentally find out that your blood sugar is slightly higher than normal but not high enough to be called diabetes. In this condition you will hardly notice any symptoms of diabetes. If you are overweight, over 45 or have a family history of diabetes you are at higher risk to get diabetes. Lack of exercise added to the above conditions makes it more likely to develop diabetes and heart disease.

There are certain steps you can take to change your possibility of getting type 2 diabetes due to lifestyle.

Blood sugar fasting value ranges from 110-126. The values after food will be between 140-200.

Decide to lose weight

You just have to lose about 7% of your body weight and it will make a huge difference. Towards this, first you have to change your diet and start eating a healthy diet with fewer calories. Keep track of your weight, eating habits and physical activities.

Have healthy food habits

As a rule just fills half of your plat with non-starchy vegetables like asparagus, Brussel sprouts carrots etc). One quarter should have starchy foods like potato, corn and peas. The remaining quarter will contain chicken, fish, or beans. Have limited carbs like baked pasta since they raise blood sugar.

Get into regular exercise

Regular exercise will help to lose weight and feel better when you burn more calories. A brisk walk for 30 minute, 5 times a week should be the trick. Join a gym or get a friend to work out with you so that you maintain a regular schedule. Aerobic exercises like walking, swimming, dancing and strength exercises like weight lifting, pushups, pull-ups are some exercises that help.

Get your sleep

One effect of good night’s sleep is that your blood sugar remains under control and helps maintain healthy levels during the day. If you can’t sleep at night, wakes up too early or gets less than 5 hours of sleep then you are more at risk of getting diabetes. For ensuring better sleep avoid alcohol or caffeine late in the day. Keep a regular sleeping time and stick to a calm and quite bedtime habit.

Quit Smoking

Quit the habit of smoking since 30% – 40% of the smokers are prone to get diabetes sooner or later. If you have diabetes and still smoke then there is no question you will suffer from various health problems.

Metabolic Syndrome increases heart problems, risk of stroke, prediabetes, diabetes, Triglycerides high, low HDL good cholesterol, exercise weight.

Sometimes chronic pain is unavoidable and makes life most unbearable. The best we can do is to learn how to manage pain flare-ups. A pain flare-up is a sudden increase in the intensity of the chronic pain problem. Though pain level changes it is not a new pain.

When you are sure that your pain fits the above platform, you must try to identity the reason for flare up.

Causes for pain flare-ups

• Physical activity – Something as simple as bending the wrong way or sitting too long in a vehicle can trigger pain crisis.
• Stress – When under emotional or physical stress we become more sensitive to pain. The stress in our body is carried where it hurts most.
• Lack of sleep – Staying awake for long hours than needed or even for an hour late than usual can increase the possibility of sensitivity towards pain.
• More work – Trying to do too many things at a time or doing an activity longer duration.
• Wrong foods – Eating foods that cause inflammation, fluid retention or dehydration can aggravate pain.
• Virus attack – A flu infection or common cold can cause achy muscles and joints which can easily increase chronic pain.

When the communication between the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system is upset then it causes the flare-up and the trigger can be anything, not even the causes mentioned above.

Here are few tips to manage this flare-up:

• Pacing – You can manage chronic pain flare-up by learning to slow down and pace your activities. Overdoing can cause a crash within few days, whereas pacing will actually help to get more done in the long run.
• Don’t Shut down – Too much of inactivity can also lead to pain aggravation, so even if rest is necessary a balance should be struck between work and rest.
• Don’t Panic – A bad flare-up can set off many alarms, this mindset will only increase the pain. Medication is a good technique that can help.
• Movement – The right movement can help manage pain when a flare-up occurs. Stretches or yoga can reduce the tight muscles. Even a nice walk in the park can help both mentally and physically.
• Massage therapy – Try to get a good massage, with a certified therapist.

Creating the right kind of pain management strategy can help you manage flare=ups and all the steps above can be the tools to support it.

At any point if the pain aggrevates seek medical help immediately. your doctor will examine you and can also advise you about other modalities of chronic pain management.

Walnuts are one of the healthiest foods for daily consumption. The nuts are loaded with healthy omega 3 fatty acids as well as good amount of fibre.

Walnuts are particularly beneficial for those suffering from metabolic syndrome. They have the potential to bring down the risk of long standing diabetes. They are known to bring down fasting glucose levels.

Walnuts also increase the levels of good cholesterol or High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) in our body.

Heart Health

The monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids found in walnuts have been observed to decrease the harmful LDL cholesterol or Low Density Lipids in the body. Walnuts also help manage the triglyceride levels in our body.

Weight management

The routine consumption of walnuts is associated with higher levels of energy usage even while the body is at rest. In a number of research that compared weight loss using a diet that include or exclude the nuts, it was seen that diets which included the walnuts showed greater result in weight loss.

Gallstone disease

Research has also proven that consumption of walnuts on a daily basis reduces the risk of cholecystectomy, which is a surgery to remove the gall bladder. Which means it reduces the risk of gallbladder cancer. Women who consumed 5 ounces of walnuts every week had lesser chance of gallbladder problems compared to women who ate just 1 ounce of walnuts each week.

Bone Health

Walnuts are always considered a good source of mineral copper, severe copper deficiency causes lower bone mineral density and increased risk of osteoporosis.

Walnuts also contain a high amount of manganese, which has been known to prevent osteoporosis in combination with minerals like calcium and copper. Magnesium another component in walnuts is a very important ingredient for bone formation. It helps in absorption of calcium into the bone.

Human physique needs movement to be in good shape. We need to take rest or sit down for certain amount of time and then we are supposed to move around so that there is proper blood flow and the muscles and sinews are well exercised. Lack of such movement will result in harmful consequences for our health.

Let us now look at some of the bad effects of remaining stationary for a long time at a stretch.

Heart gets affected

Researches made a study of two groups, transit drivers who sit for long hours during the day and conductors or guards, who keep moving. Both the groups followed the same diet and lifestyles but the drivers were found to be more at risk of getting a heart disease than the conductors who either stood or moved around.

The above example shows how sitting can harm our health and our hearts.

Dementia may follow

When you sit for long hours, your brain looks similar to the brain of someone with dementia. Along with dementia, sitting can lead to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high BP and high cholesterol. All these conditions can contribute to aggravate dementia.

Moving throughout the day helps more than regular exercise to lower the risk of health problems.

Results in diabetes

If you sit all day then you naturally burn fewer calories and increases your chance of gaining weight which can contribute to making you diabetic. Though not clearly understood studies show that sitting can change the way the body reacts to insulin too. It affects the who metabolism incuding burning of sugar and carbs for energy.

Causes DVT

Sitting for too long causes clots to form in your legs, this leads to Deep Vein Thrombosis or DVT. The same clot can break and later lodge in the lungs causing serious health problems. There may be pain and swelling for many people.

Unusual weight gain

When you sit and watch tv, play video games and surf the web for the whole day, you’ll end up being overweight and obese. You may think you can compensate by doing exercise but it does not help and does not help in reducing any weight, as you will continue to sit in front of the screen.

Anxiety levels increase

More and more people spend time sitting all by themselves and are engaged in screen based activity. This can later disrupt your sleep and increase your anxiety. The result is that you increasing withdraw from the social circle.

Strains your back

Being in the seated position puts huge strain on your back, muscles, neck and spine. If you slouch then the case can be even worse. Which means sitting and slouching will lead to a painful and stressed back. No matter how comfortable you get with ergonomic chairs etc., your back will still not accept long sitting sessions.

Cancer risk goes up

The habit of spending time sitting will lead to colon, endometrial or lung cancer. The risk of cancer increases as you go on sitting. Women may be at risk of breast cancer.  Being active afterwards does not help, what matters is how much you sit.