Having diabetes and smoking sets you up for some serious health issues beyond your diabetes that are completely avoidable. Nicotine is stimulant; it raises your blood pressure, hardens arteries and reduces your circulation. This all makes it more difficult to manage your blood sugar and this is just the beginning of your troubles.
Aside from making your blood sugar difficult to manage, having diabetes and smoking can triple your risk of heart disease something that diabetics are already at high risk for. Because smoking hardens arteries and raises cholesterol, this can accelerate the process of heart disease a great deal, shortening your life span and severely affecting the quality of your life.
Smoking also reduces the amount of oxygen that can reach your cells increasing your risk of stroke greatly. People that smoke are also at risk for more viral and bacterial infections and since it is a well known fact that diabetics do not heal as quickly as healthy people this can also put you at risk for major complications.
Aside from all the serious risks posed to a diabetic who smokes there are some very direct reasons why smoking and diabetes do not mix. Because nicotine is a stimulant it speeds up the rate your heart beats by up to 20 beats per minute each time you smoke a cigarette. This in turn will cause your body to absorb considerably less insulin; since this is already an issue in most cases of type 2 diabetes smoking can make it very difficult to manage your blood sugar.
Smokers also tend to not eat as balanced and healthy of a diet, something that is essential for diabetics. Because their taste buds are blunted from cigarette smoking they tend to favor stronger tasting foods many of which contain fat, sugar or salt.
It becomes very important for the diabetic smoker to quit if they have any wish to keep their blood sugar under control, and keep their medication to a minimum. Having Diabetes and smoking will great reduce the quality of your life and accelerate the disease process leading to a much shorter life.
