Mental Health and Diabetes

Have you ever thought that there is an association between a person’s mental health and diabetes? This must come as news to most people. Diabetes has usually been associated with problems such as heart diseases, kidney failure, eye problem and other such health related problems but recent studies have shown that the mental health of a person can also be affected by the disease. It has been seen that as adults suffering from Type2 diabetes age, their mental decline would be much faster than their counterparts who do not have the disease.

The studies have gone on to prove that the longer a person has been suffering from the disease the decline in mental health is that much more significant. The report has been established after studying a large number of both men and women suffering from the disease. On an average the people were in the early part of their 70’s. After the first test the second test was conducted after a gap of 2 years and the women participants had to go through a third test which was done after a period of another 2 years. These persons showed poorly in the very first test and the subsequent tests showed a marked deterioration in their mental health. Apart from this it was also seen that the longer time a person suffered from the disease the sharper the decline when it came to the mental state.

Scientists and researchers believe that the reasons for such sharp fall in the mental state of a person can be due to various reasons, the most important one being that the blood vessels which take blood to the brain can be damaged due to diabetes and this can be a very crucial and significant reason for the fall in mental health. Another reason could be the drugs taken to control the diabetes. These drugs elevate the amount of insulin level in the body to keep the blood sugar under control and this high level of insulin invariably increases the amyloid- beta protein level which again makes “plaques” which is what is seen in Alzheimer’s patients brains.

Even though the studies are not conclusive as the correct nature of the cause and effect have not been established but there is definitely a significant correlation between the mental health and blood sugar levels of a person. Further studies on the subject can throw light on this theory.