Friends and family may help counter diabetes stress

with diabetes may have healthier blood sugar levels when they get lots of encouragement from family and friends to help them overcome the stress of managing their disease, a U. S. study suggests. Researchers surveyed 308 veterans with diabetes who all had a person in their life — often a spouse or adult child — they leaned on for support managing their condition. Researchers focused on how stressed patients felt about their disease and how much friends and loved ones acknowledged patients' feelings and praised their efforts to do things like eat right, exercise, take medications and check their blood sugar. As expected, patients with the most emotional distress from managing diabetes tended to have higher blood sugar levels than people who didn't feel much diabetesrelated stress. But when the most stressed people had a supporter in their corner who offered positive encouragement, they had healthier blood sugar levels that were similar to patients who didn't experience much stress. “High levels of diabetes related distress can cause people with diabetes to feel overwhelmed and powerless in their ability to manage their diabetes,” said lead study author Aaron Lee of the VA Ann Arbor Center for Clinical Management Research in Michigan. Thoughts and feelings can undermine the daily efforts needed to manage diabetes, such as taking diabetes medications, exercising, and others,” Mr Lee said by email. Helping patients overcome these feelings requires more than just good intentions. Friends and family members also need to say the right things. Participants had moderate levels of stress about managing their illness based on the support they received.