What Is National Diabetes Health Week?

This week all over Australia, thousands of Australians are sharing their stories of the impact of diabetes in their lives. National Diabetes Week is a week to bring greater awareness and education of Diabetes. The aim of this week is to prevent diabetes, promote a healthy standard of living and give greater awareness of just how many Australians are living with diabetes.

According to Diabetes Australia, appropriately 100,000 Australian adults are diagnosed with diabetes. This number has increased significantly over the past few years.

For every person diagnosed, it is estimated that there is another who is not yet diagnosed, a total of about 1.7 million people. The total number of Australians with diabetes and pre-diabetes is estimated at 3.2 million.

-Diabetes Australia 2013

Just under 1 million Australians to date have been diagnosed with diabetes. The problem however, is the large number of Australians who may have symptoms of diabetes without diagnosis.

What Is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a common chronic disease that affects 1.7 million Australians to date. Diabetes is identified when there are higher levels of glucose (a type of sugar) in the blood. This happens when insulin (a hormone) that moves glucose from the blood stream is not working properly or when your body does not produce enough insulin in your blood stream, making your energy levels low and your glucose levels high. Diabetes can cause a number of serious problems such as eyesight, quality of life, and even lead to early death.

What Are The Different Types Of Diabetes?

There are two main forms of diabetes. These are referred to as Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 normally affects children and young adults, while Type 2 is seen in Australians over the age of 45 years old.

Is It Curable? What Is The Treatment For Diabetes?

Unfortunately, both main forms of diabetes are not curable. From various research, it is clear that there are treatments to help manage your diabetes. Prevention however, is always best and this can be achieved by maintaining a healthy lifestyle including eating healthy and exercising. These key factors can help reduce the risk of diabetes.