The Role of Insulin in Your Body

Here’s a sobering statistic: Approximately 11.6 percent of Americans are living with diabetes, which translates to 38.4 million individuals. Even more concerning? About 8.7 percent of those are undiagnosed. 

It’s not an exaggeration to declare that diabetes is an epidemic in the United States, especially when you consider that 1 in 9 women live with the condition. It’s a chronic disease marked by elevated blood sugar levels, and diabetes impacts how your body converts food into energy. The hormone insulin helps your body’s cells get glucose for energy, and we’ll delve more into how vital insulin is to your body systems in this post.

The talented and compassionate team at Southdale Ob/Gyn provides the best whole-woman care to patients, from prenatal care and gynecologic procedures to menopause treatments, annual women’s wellness exams, and more. 

Primary care is also an essential part of your Southdale experience, and it includes screening for diabetes so we can treat you promptly if you’re you’re diabetic or prediabetic.

Insulin impacts your health in many ways

Your endocrine system involves a group of glands that work together to act as a sophisticated messaging system. It impacts every body system, sending instructions for what your cells should do. Your hormones influence everything from your growth, weight, and mood to your fertility, appetite, and sleep patterns. 

Insulin is essential to your body and health. Your pancreas produces this hormone, and as we noted, its most important function is ensuring that your body can use glucose properly as energy. 

Insulin also kicks into action when there is too much glucose in the bloodstream, otherwise known as hyperglycemia. It promotes glucose storage as glycogen in fat cells, muscles, and the liver. It stays there until you need it; meanwhile, your blood glucose levels normalize. 

In addition to this critical role in your body’s healthy functioning, insulin also:

• Helps restore and build muscle after injury or illness
• Manages the excretion of sodium in urine
• Oversees the breakdown of proteins and lipids (fatty compounds) in your body
• Helps preserve your brain’s memory and learning abilities

There’s no question that insulin is essential. If your body doesn’t make any, as in the case of type 1 diabetes, or your cells don’t respond correctly to insulin if you have type 2 diabetes, your risk for a host of severe health conditions and complications rises:

• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Vision problems
• Circulatory problems like neuropathy
• Gum disease
• Kidney problems
• Foot issues that can lead to ulcers and amputation

When you live with diabetes, especially type 1 diabetes, you must take insulin to keep your blood sugar normalized. You can inject it via a shot or a pen, use an insulin pump, or inhale it. 

If you live with type 2 diabetes, however, you may be able to manage it by making specific lifestyle changes, like improving your diet or upping your physical exercise, and taking other oral or injectable medications as opposed to insulin.

You can’t live without insulin, but having diabetes doesn’t mean you’ve got no options.

When you visit Southdale Ob/Gyn, we test you for diabetes, educate you about it, and evaluate how efficiently your body produces insulin. If there’s cause for concern, we help you manage any problems, whether you’re prediabetic or living with diabetes.

Contact Southdale Ob/Gyn’s Edina or Burnsville office to carve out time for your annual physical, or book it online.