People used to have the impression that diabetes is a disease that only occurs in the elderly. Most diabetics are older people who are on the obese side. Younger people don’t pay much attention to blood sugar, and some of them never even have poor blood sugar lab tests and don’t even know if they have abnormal blood sugar. Today we want to talk to you about the fact that diabetes has become younger and younger, and that younger people should pay attention to it.
China is a large country with diabetes, there are currently 120 million people with diabetes, and in recent years have done large-scale statistics, diabetes is showing a younger trend. The number of people with diabetes between the ages of 20 and 40 accounts for 6%, or about 7.2 million people, and counting those with abnormal glucose tolerance (high blood sugar but not yet up to clinical diagnosis), this number is feared to exceed 10 million. Diabetes is divided into type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes, of which type 1 diabetes is mostly genetic and immune-related and occurs in children, and these patients require long-term insulin use. We are mainly talking about type 2 diabetes today.
Type 2 diabetes is really a disease of the elderly, and many patients are diagnosed with diabetes as they age and their pancreatic islet function decreases and insulin secretion decreases. Insulin is an important substance that regulates blood sugar and maintains blood sugar stability. However, in recent years we have found that more and more young people are suffering from diabetes, which may be related to the fast pace of life and high work pressure. Nowadays, young people have a lot of work pressure, irregular work and rest, and equally irregular diet. They always stay up late, do not eat three meals on time, and love to eat high-sugar foods that cause a significant increase in blood sugar, which disrupt the secretion of insulin and affect the secretion function of pancreatic cells. At the same time, they seldom exercise and are overly obese, which also increases the occurrence of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance, that is, the normal amount of insulin can not effectively lower blood sugar, pancreatic islet cells need to secrete more insulin to function, and in the long run, it will cause the development of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Weight gain, obesity and insulin resistance are clearly related.
How does diabetes occur? First, diabetes is closely linked to genetics. If you have an immediate family member with diabetes, you are more likely to have abnormal blood sugar. If both your mother and father have diabetes, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to avoid it; it is just a matter of how soon you will develop it. In addition, diabetes is a lifestyle disease, mainly related to faster economic development and improved living standards of the population. Among them, obesity caused by eating too much, eating too well and moving too little is the most important environmental factor of type 2 diabetes.
It is recommended that young people between the ages of 20 and 40 have at least one physical exam per year and have their blood sugar checked at the time of the exam. If you have symptoms of dry mouth, excessive drinking, and polyuria, along with weight loss, it is even more important to visit an endocrinology specialist for a consultation to clarify the presence of diabetes. If you have repeated symptoms of hypoglycemia and always have hand tremors and palpitations before eating, you also need to go to the endocrinology department to clarify your blood sugar situation.