Summer Heat Hassles Diabetics

Mon, 05 Jul 2010
Many of us may be having problems with the heat of this summer.

However, for diabetics in particular the heat and humidity can be especially troublesome.

A complication of diabetes, both Type 1 Dibaetes and Type 2 Diabetes, is an impaired ability to adjust to increases in the temperature. This can have impact on the body temperature during the summer.

The problem can cause nerve damage which can in turn affect almost each organ in the body, including the sweat glands. When nerve damage keeps the sweat glands from working properly, the body is not able to cool down as the mercury increases.

In a study, scientists contrasted a group of diabetic patients and a group of healthy participants when they were exposed to increasing temperatures.

The subjects were hooked onto to devices which measured skin temperature, core temperature as well as sweat rates. As temperatures went up the group of healthy participants' perspiration rates increased proportionately, with their core temperatures constant.

For diabetics, sweat appears to plateau irrelevant of a sharp increase in core temperature.

The diabetic subjects overall inability to sweat all over the body had a great effect on core temperature.

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