People with greater social participation and broader social networks have less risk of pre-diabetes and diabetes.Feeling alone increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease development.
Type 2 diabetes is a disease caused by the organism's inability to produce sufficient insulin amounts or to use this hormone in an 'adequate' way, which causes blood to carry an excess of glucose that, in the long run, ends up damagingmultiple organs throughout the body.
A disease that suffers from about 400 million people around the world and whose development, as they have demonstrated countless studies, is directly associated with obesity.Hence the prevalence of diabetes does not seem to grow and that, in order to avoid its appearance, we must adopt a healthy lifestyle, basically follow a healthy diet and exercise.
However, it is possible that our friends and acquaintances, or what is the same, our ‘social networks’ - personal, that not so much digital - also have a lot to do.
And as a new study showed by researchers from the Medical Center of the University of Maastricht (Netherlands), social isolation increases, and much, the risk of ending up suffering from this disease - especially in the case of men.
As Stephanie Brinkhues, director of this research published in the "BMC Public Health"or of the type of relationships - and the different stadiums of diabetes.In addition, our results corroborate the idea that ending social isolation could help prevent the development of type 2 diabetes ».
The egg or the chicken?
To carry out the study, the authors analyzed the personal social networks and medical records of 2,861 adults participating in the Maastricht study, an observational work designed to follow the evolution of the population between 40 and 75 resident in theSouth of the Netherlands.
And what they saw is that, of the total number of participants, 1,623 had a fully normal glucose metabolism, 430 had pre-diabetes-a condemnition defined by high blood levels of glucose, although not high enough to develop diabetes-,111 ended up being diagnosed with type 2 and 697 diabetes had a long evolution type 2 diabetes.
And that glucose levels were pathological or not, did it have anything to do with personal networks or minor?Well yes.In fact, the results showed that participation in social groups had a protective effect against diabetes, to the point that they did not take part in these groups a 60% greater pre-diabetes and up to 112% higher than 112% ofType 2 diabetes in women.An increase in the risk of disease that in the case of men was established in 42%.
The population at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes should expand their social networks and be encouraged to make new friends.
More;Each and every friendships tell.Starting from a social network composed of 10 people, the loss of a member seems to increase the risk of diabetes by 5-12%.And also, the 'loss' of a friendship-which would be equivalent to a 10% reduction in the size of this network-that lives at a distance that can be covered walked was associated with an increase of 9-21% of therisk of disease in women.Be that as it may, people with a higher risk of diabetes are men who live alone - until 94% higher.
In this context, however, it is possible that the appearance of type 2 diabetesbeen encouraged by the lack of friendships, but that the disease itself is responsible for not having so many friends.As the authors refer, «the initial changes in glucose metabolism can cause non -specific complications such as fatigue and general discomfort, which would explain that individuals limited their social participation.The observational design of our work does not allow us to reverse this causality or draw conclusions of the type ‘cause and effect’ ».
A Treasury and Less Diabetes
In short, it seems that the saying ‘who has a friend, has a treasure’ could be completed with a ‘… and a lower risk of diabetes’.So to protect yourself against the disease, the solution seems simple - although it is not easy -: you have to make friends.
As Miranda Schram concludes, co-author of the research, «the population at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes should expand their social networks and be encouraged to make new friends.
And also, to be part of a ‘club’, such as a discussion group, a volunteer organization or a sports club.
In addition, and since men living alone seem to have the greatest risk of ending up suffering from the disease, they should be recognized by doctors as a high -risk group.And in the same way, the size of the social network and participation in social activities could be used as indicators of the risk of diabetes ».