Diabetes Mellitus is a disorder of metabolism that leads to a high level of glucose in the bloodstream. This high level of glucose will lead to organ damage if left untreated. The complications that ensue are blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, and amputations.
Diabetes is very prevalent in Singapore. As alluded by PM Lee in the National Day Rally, 1 in 3 Singaporeans will be a diabetic in his lifetime. Because of the high economic costs and heavy burden to the patient and family, the Singapore government has declared War on Diabetes in 2016. The Ministry of Health is tackling diabetes from 5 fronts:
- Prevent – Healthy living to avert or delay the onset and progression of diabetes
- Screen – Early screening and intervention for individuals at risk or those who are unaware they have diabetes
- Control – Better disease management to prevent or delay complications, and ensure a good quality of life at all life stages
- Understand – Public education to raise awareness on the prevention and care for diabetes, and motivate individual behaviour changes
- Do your part – Stakeholder engagement to galvanise a whole-of-nation effort to make supporting changes to the environment, while caring for Singaporeans with diabetes
Mutual Healthcare fully supports the Singapore governments efforts in the War on Diabetes. Whether you’re already suffering from diabetes; or if you’ve a positive family history of diabetes; or if you’re just actively looking to better your health, there are steps that you can adopt to combat diabetes.
- Eat in moderation – control your daily caloric intake to 1800 calories for adult females and 2200 calories for adult males
- Choose your carbohydrates – not all carbohydrates are equal, choose carbohydrates with low glycemic index (brown rice, wholemeal bread) instead of carbohydrates with high glycemic index (white rice, white bread)
- Exercise – 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week (at the intensity where you’ve insufficient breath to sing)
- Go for screening – if you’re 40 years old and above, or if you’re at risk for diabetes (determined by the HPB’s Diabetes Risk Assessment tool), get yourself screened with a fasting blood glucose test
- Regular diabetic follow ups – essential for diabetics to monitor and control the progression of diabetes, and to look out for early signs of complications of diabetes
Take Action Now
Awareness does not translate into action. However, because early diabetes is a silent disease, most patients do not take action until they start to feel unwell. For diabetes, when you start to feel unwell, you may already have kidney damage. You only have one body, your most important asset you own. Do not wait for your body to show signs of illness. Visit us to get yourself screened and equip yourself with the skills necessary to win the War on Diabetes!