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More than 30 million people in the United States have diabetes - and each one is the most important member of their diabetes care team. This National Diabetes Month, I urge everyone with diabetes to make your care a joint effort between you, your loved ones and your health care team.
In addition to managing blood glucose (often called blood sugar), blood pressure, and cholesterol, and not smoking, people with diabetes need to make healthy food choices, stay at a healthy weight, move more every day, and take their medicine even when they feel good. It's not easy, but it's worth it - research has shown that these efforts can dramatically lower the risk of many diabetes-related health problems, including heart, kidney, nerve, and eye diseases. Having a network of support can help people with diabetes cope with the daily demands that come with diabetes and help them be more successful in managing their health.
But there's no one-size-fits-all approach to diabetes care, and treatment plans need to consider each person's values, goals, needs, and preferences. Developing realistic goals - such as taking breaks for short walks during the day if you are too tired to be active in the evening- can help you manage your diabetes in a way that works for you.
At NIH, we are learning more about the importance of taking each person's needs into account through research taking a "precision medicine" approach where a person's genes, environment, lifestyle and other factors all help determine the best treatment for that person.
As we learn more about how to treat and someday prevent all types of diabetes, we hope you'll use this National Diabetes Month as a chance to take charge of your health. Go to health visits with questions you may have.
Start making small changes
to your lifestyle. Learn more about diabetes with free health information from the NIDDK at
www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information
. Find even more ways to improve your diabetes health with the
National Diabetes Education Program
, a joint program of NIH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At the NIH, we're committed to improving outcomes for all people with diabetes. This National Diabetes Month, we encourage everyone with diabetes to take center stage in their health care and to set health goals that work for you.
