Diabetes Care & Management Smarter Thanks to New Technology

Diabetes Care

Whether you’ve been newly diagnosed with diabetes or you’ve been dealing with this illness for years, it might seem like your whole life revolves around managing your symptoms and treatments. But thanks to new technology, smart products are making diabetes care and management of diabetes more efficient and effective for women over 50. The advancements also allow others to participate in the monitoring of health symptoms.

When left unchecked, diabetes complications can lead to cardiovascular disease, nerve damage, skin conditions, foot damage, and even amputation. According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report, 30.3 million people have diabetes in America, and 23.1 million adults age 65 and older have prediabetes.

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To help you get back to enjoying your life and avoid these complications, we’ve compiled a list of tips to help you better manage your diabetes.

Exercise Regularly

It’s no surprise that we’re talking about fitness here. It might be intimidating to start if you don’t currently work out. The key to making fitness a habit is to start slow. Two or three times a week, take a 10-minute walk or do 10 minutes of yoga. Once you feel stronger and more confident, you can increase the time and eventually move onto more challenging fitness formats like weight training, running, or more advanced yoga. There are a number of fitness apps that can help you keep tracking of how much exercise you perform daily – one such app to look at is GlucoseZone.

Eat a Well Balanced Diet

As you know, you must watch your sugar levels when dealing with diabetes, so you don’t want to eat foods that will cause blood sugar to quickly spike. You also need to make sure you’re eating regularly so it doesn’t drop too low. You can do this by eating a healthy, well-balanced diet. Avoid processed foods and stick with fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains. Opt for water instead of juice or soda, and practice portion management. Every time you eat, at least half your plate should be filled with veggies or fruit, and a quarter of the plate should be lean meat like chicken, turkey or fish. You can fill the other quarter with whole grains, such as brown rice. An app that helps track dietary intake is MyNetDiary PRO, and is well worth checking out. 

Monitor Your Foot Health

Roughly 9 out of every 10 people with diabetes will experience nerve damage, with nearly 40 percent completely losing the ability to sense pain in their feet. Therefore, when someone in this condition incurs a small injury, it can quickly escalate to an ulcer and ultimately result in amputation. That’s why every 30 seconds, a limb is lost as a consequence of diabetes. Fortunately, most amputations are preventable by paying vigilant attention to the condition of your feet. 

Temperature monitoring, for example, is clinically proven to be the most effective way of catching foot injuries early and is up to 87 percent more effective at preventing diabetic foot ulcers than standard diabetic foot care. A spike in temperature can be a sign of inflammation as a result of injury, and can be detected even before the injury is visible. Temperature monitoring should be conducted regularly – either through frequent trips to the podiatrist or with new technology like the Siren Diabetic Sock and Foot Monitoring System.

Siren’s Socks provide all of the comfort, moisture-wicking, and protection of traditional diabetic socks, with the added intelligence of built-in temperature tracking. The system notifies you or those involved in your healthcare through a companion app the moment there is evidence of inflammation. And if you don’t have a smartphone, an accompanying hub will transmit your data for analysis. 

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Manage Stress

Since stress can raise your heart rate, it’s important for those with diabetes to live with as low a stress level as possible. Exercise is a great stress reducer, as is engaging in self-care. Whether you enjoy meditating, gardening, listening to music, painting, or another hobby, these activities are perfect ways to take time yourself. If you’re going through a particularly stressful or challenging time, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Reach out a friend, family member, or even a mental health professional. There are also apps like Headspace which have become popular in recent years for their ability to help people meditate and clear their heads.

Follow a Daily Checklist

Last but not least, it’s critical when managing your diabetes not ignore your daily checklist. This includes:

  • Taking medications at the prescribed times and dosages
  • Examining your feet for cuts, swelling, blisters, or redness
  • Monitor your blood glucose levels
  • Check your blood pressure

If you’re having issues with any of these to-do items, be sure to speak to your doctor about how to make changes or improvements.

 

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Diabetes Care & Management Smarter Thanks to New Technology
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