Tag: Diabetes
The Positive Effects Of Qi Gong In The Treatment Of Type 1 And Type 2 Diabetes
Medical researchers all agree; for managing diabetes, both for type 1 and especially the more common Type 2, exercise works extremely well as a self-regulating and effective modality. In Type 1 diabetes, the body is unable to produce adequate amounts of insulin (insulin deficiency) to manage blood sugar. Type 2 diabetes is caused by the body’s resistance to insulin, (which is manufactured in adequate amounts at the cellular level) resulting in the person having a constantly high level of blood sugar.
According to a study entitled “The Effect of Qi-Gong Relaxation Exercise on the Control of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus”, published by the American Diabetes Association, in 2002, “Due to the fact that obese patients benefited from Qi gong exercises which led to a significant reduction in C-peptide in this study, researchers have concluded that Qi-gong exercises can indeed improve insulin resistance. Various other studies described relaxation training’s effects on type 2 diabetes, which meant that Qi-gong may improve glucose metabolism due to the body’s relaxation response from the exercises. Based on these findings, it was concluded that Qi-gong relaxation exercise is a proven beneficial complementary treatment for people suffering from type 2 diabetes.”
This discovery is important for a number of reasons; one, it indicates factors which are inter-related, which may lead to degradation in overall health. This degradation may be triggered by one or more of the conditions: heart disease, obesity, and type 1 or 2 diabetes. Each of these conditions may lead to a sedentary lifestyle, which may involve emotional or recreational eating that in turn, can result in both or one of the other conditions. The conditions may probably worsen as activity decreases, and as the conditions worsen, life can becomes more stressful.
A type of immune deficiency disease, Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented although it can be properly managed through exercises, diet, and drugs. On the other hand, type 2 diabetes is considered to be manageable and preventable. If your doctor diagnoses you with pre-diabetic conditions, he may suggest certain lifestyle modifications. The advised changes may be profoundly simple, but in the start, can be agonizingly difficult: Exercise and Diet. Reference was made a while ago to benefits for obese patients, most people are aware that obesity can be a predecessor for type 2 diabetes and heart conditions. Of course, diet will entail both the amounts and types of food consumed.
Exercise can help regulate the level of blood sugar by boosting the uptake of glucose. It can help create muscle cells that can replace the fat stored in the body: muscle utilizes more sugar. Exercise burns calories which can maintain and/or help you lose weight. For people with Type 2 diabetes, exercise promotes sensitivity of their body cells to insulin. As this sensitivity is increased, the natural insulin produced by your body begins to works better helping your blood sugar levels to likewise get better. According to the University of Iowa Healthcare Hospitals & Clinics, when you perform exercise every other day at least, you will more likely to experience this effect. Following a proper diet and regular exercise may help bring your blood sugars within the target range without the need to use drugs.
Your doctor or healthcare provider in Overland Park should monitor your exercise if you have been living a sedentary lifestyle for quite a while or have been ill or injured; too fast and too much exercise can cause more harm than good. Your exercise plan may lead to failure if it causes you to over-stresses (if it is “too hard”, or hurts too much after). Qi gong is one of the exercises recommended for the management of diabetes mellitus. For the three conditions of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes stress is the one factor that is most common among people who have had encounters with the three diseases. Stress can be controlled by real relaxation (this does not mean eating a bag of treats while lying around the pool or watching shows on your 50” plasma TV). Qi gong gives you at the same time a dose of exercise and real relaxation therapy.
Qi Gong is an ideal way to start up an exercise. It may lead to higher levels of duration and intensity without you needing to “work out” on a gym or buy and use expensive equipment. People who perform some type of qi gong exercises usually see it as play than work. Its popularity is growing by the day and may someday rival that of Tai Chi, another form of relaxation exercise that secures your well-being and health. Tai Chi is actually one style of Qi Gong which has literally thousands of styles and forms. However, all these styles and forms have essentially the same core: gentle and slow movements synchronized with rhythmic, deep breathing. Qi Gong exercises may be very easy, basic, and simple or it may be difficult, confusing, and extremely complex – for every person there is a corresponding form or style. People can learn it from video and books; however the best and easiest way to learn is from a good instructor in a group. You’ll know if your instructor is competent during the first session.
If you want to learn Qi Gong in a class or group, you can check the program listing of your community center. If you reside near a university campus or a college, you may check their listings of “continuous learning” programs, and if there is a local martial art studio near your area that offer Tai Chi, you can call them to inquire about qi gong. There are listings that are posted on-line as free basic samplings or paid courses of learning.
Combining Western Medicine and TCM is the Best Way of Treating Diabetes
TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine has been touted as one of the newest natural remedies for diabetes. The truth is however, TCM does not really “treat” diabetes. What it does is assist the body attain the best result in order for it to function the best way possible. I recommend more studies to validate and/or discover the benefits TCM can give to the body.
The foundation of TCM is based on the interdependence of two major concepts, the yin and the yang. TCM believes that diabetes mellitus is due to an imbalance or an inadequacy of yin for certain reasons including physical and mental exhaustion, imbalanced diet, emotional stress, and other diseases that have made yin deficient. This has led to a wider search for natural treatments for diabetes.
TCM practitioners are one in saying that nurturing the yin is vital for treatment of diabetes. The question is how, can this be accomplished. Those practitioners only prescribe natural cures such as Solomon’s Seal, raw Rehmannia root, raw gypsum, Glehnia root,Scrophularia root, and Trichosanthes root.
Although Western Medicine practitioners believe that the anatomy and physiology of Western Medicine is more accurate, TCM adherents argue that traditional Chinese medicine has also its own unique advantages. For one, TCM has a variety of treatments available. Also, the medicines these practitioners prescribe have no known lethal effects simply because TCM only uses natural cures for diabetes.
TCM practitioners always regard a person as a whole being with one system comprising of the spirit, body, and mind. This is the reason why they stress the importance of treating the whole person and not just target the problematic part of the body. Their aim is to identify and treat the symptoms as well as the source of the disease. They have been trained to do this that their healing methodology may be what some diabetics, who do not positively respond to Western modalities, need.
For example, a diabetic who goes on a hyperglycemic state will be prescribed an injection of insulin and hypoglycemic pills by his/her physician in order to lower the patient’s blood glucose levels. TCM doctors, on the other hand, believe that the problem lies on the islets of Langerhans, the part of the body that’s responsible for insulin secretion. Blood sugar levels will rise again when the medications are stopped because the problem in the islets of Langerhans is still there and has not been addressed.
What does a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner do? This Eastern medicine trained healer use Chinese medicinal herbs to ascertain why the condition is so and attempt to resolve the root of the problem. They strive to make the insulin factor do its work. A TCM practitioner also can help diabetics manage their lipids. Bile plays a key role in the mixture of insulin and when it’s not functioning normally, the production of insulin is also disrupted.
Both TCM and Western medicine has its own advantages when it comes to treating diabetes. Therefore, the best way a diabetes patient can benefit from a treatment is when Western and Traditional Chinese treatments are combined. Both a TCM practitioner and a Western-trained physician who decide to combine the two types of treatment know that closely monitoring the blood sugar level of the patient is important as well as knowing the potential side effects of the treatment.
All in all, one should not lose sight of the fact that the objective is to ascertain what type of care can provide the best benefit for the diabetes patient. Being open-minded and considering all avenues of treatment will certainly be advantageous in the long term. We long for the best help for our patients after all and give the best of ourselves in the process, no matter what type of treatment is utilized.