Diabetes can have a wide range of symptoms so it's not always obvious when you have it.
The warning signs when you wake up in the morning are a prime example.
It's normal to feel groggy after rousing from a deep slumber but there are subtle changes can signal the onset of diabetes.
Extreme tiredness and exhaustion that doesn’t disappear with rest or sleep, also known as fatigue, can be a "telling" symptom of diabetes, according to Diabetes.co.uk.
Fatigue can be caused by high blood sugar levels
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So if you wake up feeling like you've barely slept, it could spell diabetes.
Fatigue can manifest itself in the following ways:- A lack of, or no energy
- Difficulty in carrying out simple everyday tasks
- Feeling down or depressed (mental fatigue)
As Diabetes.co.uk explains, fatigue can be caused by high blood sugar levels - either from a lack of the insulin horomone or from insulin resistance.
"This can affect the body’s ability to get glucose from the blood into cells to meet our energy needs.
According to the health body, people on stronger diabetes medication such as insulin, may also experience fatigue as a symptom of low blood glucose levels.
In fact, blood glucose testing can help to determine whether high or low sugar levels may be the cause of fatigue.
It's worth noting that fatigue can have many causes and it may not necessarily signal diabetes.
But you should visit your GP as soon as possible if you experience fatigue or any of the other main symptoms of diabetes, says the NHS.
These include:
- Feeling very thirsty
- Peeing more frequently than usual, particularly at night
- Weight loss and loss of muscle bulk
- Itching around the penis or vagina, or frequent episodes of thrush
- Blurred vision
If you have diabetes, your body is unable to break down glucose into energy.
This is because there's either not enough insulin to move the glucose, or the insulin produced does not work properly.
There are no lifestyle changes you can make to lower your risk of type 1 diabetes.
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However, you can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes through healthy eating, regular exercise and achieving a healthy body weight.
As if to emphasise the importance of diet, the US Food and Drug Administration recently decided that yogurts can now make a limited claim that the food may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, the federal agency concluded Friday.
The decision, which was nearly five years in the making, marks the first-ever qualified health claim the federal agency has issued for yogurt.
In the case of yogurt, the claim states that according to limited scientific evidence, “eating yogurt regularly, at least two cups (three servings) per week” may reduce risk of the disease.