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The BBC have reported that 1 in 3 people are on the cusp of Diabetes. How much do you know about this condition?

WHAT IS DIABETES?

Diabetes is a common life-long health condition. There are 3.2 million people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK and an estimated 630,000 people who have the condition, but don’t know it.

What happens when you have diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition where the amount of glucose in your blood is too high because the body cannot use it properly.

This is because your pancreas doesn’t produce any insulin, or not enough insulin, to help glucose enter your body’s cells – or the insulin that is produced does not work properly (known as insulin resistance).

• Insulin is the hormone produced by the pancreas that allows glucose to enter the body’s cells, where it is used as fuel for energy so we can work, play and generally live our lives. It is vital for life.
• Glucose comes from digesting carbohydrate and is also produced by the liver. 
• If you have diabetes, your body cannot make proper use of this glucose so it builds up in the blood and can’t be used as fuel.
• There are two main types of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes develops when glucose can’t enter the body’s cells to be used as fuel. This happens when either:

• There is no insulin to unlock the cells (Type 1)
• There is not enough insulin or the insulin is there but not 
  working properly (Type 2).

The above information is taken from http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/What-is-diabetes/ . This is a great site with informative videos that are well worth watching.

The image was from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27712381

Clear Chemist also offers a range of products to help with diabetes, to view them follow the link below.

http://www.clearchemist.co.uk/electricals/healthcare/glucose-monitors.html

Are you getting enough sleep? Modern life means that many of us aren’t.

This article from the BBC discusses new research in to the effect that a lack of sleep can have on our genes. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21572686

For those of you who don't know, Clear Chemist is not just an online business. We also have stores across the country that offer the same excellent service our customers expect. 

This is a very nice article from The York Press about Esther Astilleros-Smit a Pharmacist at Parkers Pharmacy our branch in York.

So well done Esther and all the staff at Parkers!

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/11246130.Community_Pride__Health_service_hero_Esther_brightens_up_lives_in_Huntington/

Samsung have unveiled a prototype watch sized  product, that will allow users to monitor their health and activity levels. Is wearable technology the future of personal health care?

Leo Kelion from BBC news takes  a look at the Simband  in this article. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27612110

In the last few years it has been suggested that there are some health benefits to drinking red wine in moderation. However new research casts some doubt on this idea. This article from the BBC explores the new research on this topic. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27371546

That is the question Christopher Middleton asks in this interesting article from the Telegraph that links life expectancy to activity levels. It also lists a few of the tests used to predict life expectancy. Well worth a read.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10798803/Why-getting-up-out-of-a-chair-can-reveal-how-long-you-have-left-to-live.html

We all like exciting television, but are the stressful situations our favourite TV characters find themselves in actually making us stressed? The truth behind this headline is examined by NHS Choices in this article.

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/05May/Pages/Watching-TV-could-be-making-you-stressed.aspx

New guidelines from the National Obesity Forum suggest using "harder hitting" anti-obesity campaigns, akin to anti-tobacco campaigns, in the UK. The debate about whether to treat obesity like smoking is one that has played out in the US, with researchers still searching for the most effective way to improve health outcomes.

The seasons have officially turned and those days spent sitting in parks and walking the dog seem like nothing but a distant dream when you’re wrapped up in more layers than an onion, so it’s fair to say we’ve reached winter and with it all of the mixed blessings we associate – everything from Christmas to Colds, but how do you stay healthy during the winter months?