I know hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia are the opposite, but what’s the difference and is one just like diabetes?
In: Biology
Glycemia is a term for how much sugar you have in your bloodstream. It changes regularly during the day, usually increasing after you ate and decreasing between meals.
This fluctuation is caused mainly by insulin. You eat, you break down carbs and assimilate simple sugar, all those sugars go into your blood to be distributed to all your cells. Your body senses the sugar rising and produces insulin. Insulin helps organs and cells to take the sugar from the bloodstream and use it.
As anything in your body, you have a range in which everything is fine. Same goes for glycemia. Hyperglycemia is when you have too much sugar in your blood, hypoglicemia is when you have too few. Both can lead to problems.
Diabetes is a disease related to blood sugar, but it’s not exacty just hypo or hyperglycemia. Diabetes is a disease connected to insulin.
There are two types of diabetes, type I and type II.
People with type I diabetes don’t produce insulin. This can lead easily to hyperglycemia, so they have to keep a strict diet and get insulin shots. You are also at risk of hypoglycemia, if you take more insulin than what is required for the amount you ate.
Type II diabetes is often called “insulin resistance”. The person does produce insulin, but also the cells and organs do not react correctly to the insulin, almost ignoring it. Basically you are again at risk of hyperglycemia, but for different reasons. Here, diet and exercise are said to have some effect on the disease.
Latest Answers