Diabetes is one of the most common chronic conditions in the world, affecting nearly 400 million people. People with diabetes have trouble regulating their blood sugar levels and must carefully monitor their diet and fitness activities to keep them under control.
Technology is making life easier for people with diabetes.
For many people with diabetes, technology has made managing their disease easier. But it’s also created new challenges in the form of higher expectations for better results and increased stress.
Technology can be an asset, but it shouldn’t make you forget other important parts of your care plan: physical activity, healthy eating, and regular medical checkups are still crucial to staying healthy.
So if you think that all this newfangled tech will cure your diabetes (or help you manage symptoms), think again—the only way to take control of your health is still exercising daily and maintaining a healthy diet!
First Electronic Blood Glucose Meter
Just as there are many different ways to manage diabetes, there are also many options regarding technology. Today’s products can do much more than count carbs: they can help people predict their glucose levels and even alert them when they experience a dangerous drop.
Roche introduced the first blood glucose meter in 1981, but the technology has come a long way since then. Nowadays, people can use their smartphones, connected scales, or other devices that automatically gather data about their health habits and store it in an app—making it easy to see patterns or changes over time.
New devices
If you have diabetes, technology can help make your life easier. For example, devices can help you with the following:
- Manage your blood sugar levels
- Manage your diet
- Track exercise and activity level
- Track sleep patterns and quality of sleep.
Diet tracker
While there are multiple types of diabetes, the most common is Type 2. In this form, the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or can’t use it properly. You must make quick and accurate decisions about what you eat to prevent your blood sugar from getting too high or too low.
However, our brains only sometimes work correctly when we’re hungry, looking for food at night, or rushing home from work. That’s where technology comes into play: some devices can help people with diabetes make better eating choices by giving them critical information about their health status and what they’ve eaten recently.
Bluetooth and other wireless technologies
Bluetooth is a wireless protocol that transmits data between two devices, such as your cell phone and your blood glucose meter. This technology can send information about your blood sugar levels from the meter to your phone when you’re not at home.
When you have diabetes, it’s important to monitor your blood sugar levels regularly by checking them with a glucometer (pronounced “gly-com-eater”). A glucometer allows you to check how much glucose (sugar) is in your blood by pricking your finger and putting some of the fluid on a test strip that’s inserted into the glucometer; then, after waiting for 10 seconds or so, it displays an estimate of how much glucose is present in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl).
The advantage of this approach is that many options are available—from low-cost disposables like lancets and test strips to sophisticated meters with built-in memory functions that allow you to store data from previous tests for later review. Some also allow sharing results via email or text message if someone else wants access without needing their device nearby at all times — which could help make life easier for people who live alone!
Some devices help people predict their glucose levels.
You can also use diabetes devices that predict your blood glucose level. These are helpful when managing diabetes because they provide a picture of what’s happening inside your body and give you an idea of what will happen in the future. The more data they collect, the better they get at predicting your future blood glucose levels.
But you have to be careful with this: it still needs improvement and has room for error, so don’t rely on it too much or think it will give you an exact prediction every time.
If you’re interested in using one of these prediction tools, talk with your doctor first—it may not be right for you and could have some side effects or other problems associated with its use (like false positives).
Insulin Pumps
For some people, insulin pumps may become a viable alternative to daily injections. The pumps, which are attached to the body and can be programmed to deliver insulin at certain times of the day, have been around since 1982 but have only recently become more widely used. Because they are so new, it’s not yet clear whether they’ll be as effective as traditional methods over time—but many people with diabetes who use them say they’re pleased with the results.
Technology has some answers, but will it give us the whole picture?
- Technology is a tool, not a solution.
- Technology can help you manage your diabetes, but it can’t replace the skills and knowledge of a doctor or nurse.
- Technology is not a substitute for good nutrition.
Conclusion
Technology is an amazing tool for people with diabetes. It can help you manage your disease and take control of your health. But technology isn’t enough—you still need to be aware of what’s happening with your body and make good decisions about how you live with diabetes. What is the best way to do this? Get educated! Learn as much as possible about managing diabetes so that when new devices come out, they won’t feel like such a headache. If anything, they might just become part of normal life for those living with this condition.
Leave A Comment