High blood sugar levels, which are a sign of type 2 diabetes, can do a lot of damage to the body. People with diabetes have high blood sugar because their pancreas either doesn’t make enough insulin to control blood sugar or the insulin it does make isn’t taken by the cells well enough. Insulin is a hormone that controls how much sugar is in your blood.

Without this balancing factor, blood sugar levels rise steadily, which can hurt parts of the body like the eyes, nerves, kidneys, and blood vessels for good. Poor insulin production is a problem, but living a healthy life can make up for it. Diet is known to affect blood sugar levels, but study has also found some new ways to control blood sugar.

 

What does research suggest?

New study shows that mind-body practices like yoga can help people with type 2 diabetes lower their blood sugar levels. Mind-body practices are based on mindfulness and are meant to be used along with normal treatments.

People with type 2 diabetes can lower their risk of problems like heart disease, kidney damage, nerve damage, and vision problems by keeping their blood glucose levels in the suggested range. Yoga had the biggest impact on blood glucose levels, leading to an HbA1c reduction of 1%. The other mind-body practices studied also had a positive impact on blood glucose.

People with type 2 diabetes should make changes to their lifestyle, such as getting enough sleep and exercising regularly. The Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine published an analysis of several studies that shows they might.

How can diabetes be managed by mind-body practices?

The skill to calm down could be a big factor. Yoga and other mindfulness practices make you feel calmer, which is the opposite of what happens when you’re stressed. Cortisol levels can go down when there is a relaxation reaction. This makes the body less resistant to insulin and keeps blood sugar levels in check. As a result, A1C numbers go down.

People with diabetes can also benefit from the relaxation reaction in other ways, such as by making their blood flow better and lowering their blood pressure, which helps protect them from heart attacks and strokes.

You can take small steps.

There are a lot of ways to use mind-body practices that can help you relax-

• Use an app like Insight Timer, Calm, or Headspace to do a 10-minute or longer meditation every day.
• Go to a yoga school or community center near you and take a class in gentle yoga, qigong, or tai chi.
• Try videos and movements to help you get rid of stress and start to feel better.
• Try to breathe slowly and steadily. Lay on your back and put either one or both hands on your stomach. Slowly and deeply breathe in, filling the bottom part of your lungs with air so that your hand goes up. When you breathe in, your belly should rise and get bigger. When you breathe out, it should get smaller and lower. Several times for a few minutes

 

Practices that can help you be more aware 

1. Create an app

Apps like Headspace and Calm that help you meditate are very popular. Many apps, like the Healthy Minds Program and Waking Up, help people learn and practice being aware.

You can start to learn how to meditate by watching YouTube channels and movies. There are many guided meditation programs on YouTube. They also learn about the science, theories, and philosophy that are connected to mindfulness.

2. Be consistent with your practice session

Mindfulness-based practice doesn’t always feel good or even the same each time.

At first, it might be hard, just like when you start a new workout routine. Even if you don’t feel great after every workout, you’re still getting good health. The same is true for mindful-based practice. You’ll always get something out of it, and over time, you’ll be less critical of the effects.”

3. Come with an open mind and a creative spirit.

Keep an open mind and leave assumptions and ideas you already know behind. There are many different ways to do these things. Getting rid of ideas that mindfulness has to be a certain way can help. People with diabetes often learn how to solve problems, and it is recommended that they use these skills in their mindful-based practice.

Meditation and being aware can be done in more than one way. Most types are built around the following main parts:

• Paying close attention
• Controlling your own feelings
• Compassion
• Getting to know yourself better

 

4. Join a group of people

Find a group of people to hang out with. It gives extra help to mindful-based daily practice. It’s very helpful to find a group of people or a community with whom you have something in common. Taking care of diabetes requires a link between the mind and the body. 

There are physical signs and facts, but there are also decisions to be made and feelings to deal with. Mindfulness lets a person “become a first-person scientist of their own life”. This can help you live well with diabetes as you go through life.

 

5. Try some gentle things

A physical practice that is very hard, like some types of yoga, can help lower blood glucose levels by making people move more and making them lose weight. But gentle and sitting yoga may also help lower blood sugar, in part by making people with diabetes feel less stressed.

Sitting, breathing, and moving while breathing have a big effect on people with diabetes. And many of yoga’s benefits come from the fact that it is not just a physical practice, but also a practice of being aware of the mind and body. Support for yoga comes from the physical practice of pranayama (controlling your breath) and meditation.

 

6. Intuitive Eating 

Even if you have diabetes, it’s still important to watch what you eat and see how different things affect your blood sugar. But Intuitive Eating can help reduce worry and guilt about food choices by keeping track of blood glucose and making changes to eating habits in a way that doesn’t judge.

For example, instead of thinking “I can’t eat this,” an intuitive eater will think “my blood glucose doesn’t respond as well to this food” and change what they eat as required.

Takeaway

More and more study shows that mind-body practices, like yoga, can help people with type 2 diabetes lower their blood sugar levels. Even though there are some positive effects, more long-term study is still needed.

Even so, almost everyone can benefit from becoming more aware. Mind-body practices that were part of the latest study could be tried by people with type 2 diabetes to see if they help.