Individuals who have insulin resistance, which is also called impaired insulin sensitivity, have developed a tolerance to insulin. This means that insulin is not as effective in their bodies. This means that people with this condition have to prompt their muscle and fat cells to take up glucose and encourage the liver to store glucose by adding more insulin to the body. Read on about how to prevent insulin resistance.
Doctors are still unclear about how or why some people don’t respond well to insulin. However, there are some ways to make it easier for the body to absorb and utilize insulin. These methods can delay or prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes or help individuals with type 1 diabetes maintain healthy glucose levels. If you live in or near London and think you may have insulin resistance, you can visit a private clinic in London for an evaluation and a consultation with your physician.
How Does Insulin Work?
To respond to the body’s resistance to insulin, the pancreas will send larger amounts of insulin to energy the cells and maintain healthy blood glucose levels. This is the reason people with type 2 diabetes have high levels of circulating insulin. The pancreas’s ability to increase insulin means that insulin resistance may not have any symptoms initially. Over time, insulin resistance can worsen and the beta cells in the pancreas that create insulin can become fatigued. As more time passes, the pancreas will not produce enough insulin to keep the body out of insulin resistance. This can result in high glucose levels, which leads to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
What Causes Insulin Resistance?
Scientists are starting to acquire a more thorough understanding of how people develop insulin resistance. There are several genes that can increase or decrease the chances of insulin resistance. Lifestyle is also a factor in the development of insulin resistance. People who are obese, overweight, or sedentary are at higher risk for insulin resistance. The reason for this is not clear, but some medical researchers think that additional fat tissue can lead to inflammation, mental stress, and other cellular changes that raise the chances of insulin resistance. There may also be some undiscovered factors that are produced in fat tissue, possibly a hormone, that serve as indicators that the body is becoming resistant to insulin.
Doctors usually don’t test patients for insulin resistance as part of a diabetes care visit. However, clinical research indicates that scientists who observe degrees of insulin resistance to observe potential treatments for the condition or for type 2 diabetes. These researchers will usually administer large amounts of insulin while delivering glucose to the bloodstream to prevent low glucose. The less glucose the body needs to maintain normal levels, the higher the insulin resistance.
What Does Insulin Resistance Mean for Your Health?
There are varying degrees of (IR) so learning how to prevent insulin resistance is extremely beneficial for people with diabetes. The more insulin-resistant a type 2 diabetic is, the more difficult it will be to manage diabetes. More medication is necessary to make sure the body is getting enough insulin to achieve healthy blood sugar levels.
While insulin resistance doesn’t cause type 1 diabetes, people with this condition who are also insulin-resistance will need more insulin to keep their glucose levels under control. Type 1 diabetics can develop insulin due to being overweight or having a genetic predisposition to insulin resistance.
What You Can Do About Insulin Resistance
It may not be possible to completely rid the body of insulin resistance, but there are some ways to make the cells more insulin-receptive.
Getting physically active is one of the most effective ways to fight insulin resistance. Exercise significantly reduces both short and long-term insulin resistance. Working out opens another pathway for glucose to get into the cells of the muscles without using insulin as a vehicle for this process. This reduces cellular reliance on insulin for energy. Exercise doesn’t lower insulin resistance itself but can be helpful in improving glucose control.
Weight loss can reduce insulin resistance as well. No particular diet has been proven to work best when it comes to weight loss. However, some evidence indicates that eating naturally low-fat and high in carbs can make insulin resistance worse. Research also shows that individuals who have had bariatric surgery are less likely to become more sensitive to insulin.
It is also important to note, there are currently no medications that are specifically for the treatment of insulin resistance. However, diabetes medications such as metformin or TZDs sensitize the insulin in the body. This will lower blood sugar to help manage insulin resistance. It is important to discuss these medications with your physician and to come up with an exercise plan to keep insulin resistance under control. Hopefully you found this article about how to prevent insulin resistance helpful for a healthier lifestyle.
