There has long been an established connection between smoking and diabetes. While not often spoken about, it should be a concern for all smokers. Here are a few ways that smoking can worsen the effects of diabetes.

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Nicotine

First off, nicotine has been shown to make the cells in your body less responsive to insulin, which makes your blood sugar levels higher. If you already have diabetes and you smoke, you may require even more insulin than normal to regulate your blood pressure.

Diabetes-Related Issues

There are also several diabetes-related conditions that are made worse with smoking, ranging from heart disease to a loss of vision.

Heart Disease

Smoking has been shown to increase the rate of bad cholesterol in the body, and also decrease good cholesterol in your system. Because of this, you increase your risk of heart problems, and in particular, heart disease.

Therefore, if you are diabetic, quitting smoking or researching how to get a vape prescription should be a priority, especially considering heart disease can be fatal even under the best circumstances.

High Blood Pressure

Smoking causes inflammation in the blood vessels, and many studies have shown that those with diabetes and smoke have increased damage in these vessels, which leads to high blood pressure.

High blood pressure can cause a plethora of conditions, including heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, aneurysms, and heart disease. It can also affect the kidneys, your brain, your vision, and sexual dysfunction.

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Kidney Damage/Disease

As mentioned previously, damaged blood vessels can lead to kidney damage, but there are also other issues that smoking causes in the kidneys. The main concern is long-term kidney and renal failure.

When combined with diabetes, smoking increases the amount of protein in their urine, which leads to complete renal failure.

Loss of Vision

Finally, both smoking and diabetes can affect your vision, and therefore, combining the two can only make it worse. Not only do you risk a quick and consistent degradation of vision, but you can become completely blind if the issue is left untreated.

How to Quit

Now that you know a few of the ways smoking can affect cancer, here are a few steps you can take to begin your journey to quitting.

Smoking Replacements

The first thing you should do is find a smoking replacement. This can be nicotine gum, a vape, patches, or something similar. This should be used as the first step to get away from smoking, even though it isn’t necessarily the final solution.

Medical Intervention

You can also seek medical intervention if it is available to you. There are sprays, medication, etc., that are stronger than what’s on the market, and can be used for those who simply cannot quit smoking no matter what they do.

Stress Relief

Stress is a common reason for smoking, and therefore, it is best to start finding healthier ways to relieve it. This can be through exercise, meditation, journaling, breathing exercises, or anything else that may work for you.

Deal with Your Triggers

It is always best to identify, and then deal with your smoking triggers. Is it stress, boredom, a mindless habit, or something else? Once you know your triggers, you will know what to avoid, or what to find an alternative for.

Delay, Delay, Delay

Another step to take is to delay smoking or using nicotine for as long as you can. One of the main issues many smokers face is that they do a lot of smoking mindlessly, meaning you end up smoking much more than you think.

However, if you become more mindful about your smoking, and delay for as long as you can, the gaps between cigarettes will become bigger and bigger until you are eventually going hours, even a day or two without smoking.

Get Moving

One tried and tested method of quitting is by exercising. Many studies and individuals have shown that working out regularly not only relieves cravings, but also leads to people not needing to or wanting to smoke for hours after.

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Ask for Help

Sometimes, you simply just need to be held accountable for your actions. When all else fails, having someone to remind you why you are quitting, or even just metaphorically slapping the cigarette out of your hand can be exactly what you need.

While something this extreme isn’t always needed, sometimes you need a helping hand and having someone there to offer it is never a bad idea.

Remind Yourself Why You’re Quitting

Finally, when you are having the worst cravings and want to cave, take a couple of minutes ro remind yourself as to why you are quitting. Whether it be for your health, children, or simply because you want to save money, reminding yourself will give you the extra motivation you need to hold out and not smoke.

In conclusion, smoking and nicotine can not only contribute to the development of diabetes, but it can almost make the side effects even worse. Therefore, even if you are a casual smoker, it is best to try and quit as soon as possible