Type 2 Diabetes - Preventing Gestational Diabetes

The incidence of pregnancy-related, or gestational diabetes, is rising. With great care, it can be managed, but there is a risk to the infants of being born:
- Too large, having fractured shoulders when being carried,
- Of having low blood sugar, or
- Heart defects, or
- Of being obese throughout life.

Mothers diagnosed with gestational diabetes run a high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes after their children are born. Researchers in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Albany School of Public Health in New York USA, looked at stressful events and smoking in pregnant women and plan on reporting their results in the journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology in November 2011. They examined the records of 2690 women included in the New York State Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System for 2004 to 2006. Women who had five or more stressful events during the year before their babies were born were almost two and a half times more likely to suffer gestational diabetes than mothers without stressful events.

Hormones that help us to fight the danger or run away from it, raise blood sugar levels and the levels can stay high after the threat has passed. If stressful situations continue, blood sugar levels can remain high over some time. People under stress sometimes neglect to take care of themselves or eat a nutritious diet, which is especially important during pregnancy.

Overeating is, unfortunately, an all-too-common and inadequate method of coping with stress, and one that can lead to Type 2 diabetes. The American Diabetes Association recommends two coping strategies that are helpful:
- One is to deal with the situation effectively so that it ceases to be a problem,
- The other is to accept the issues and decide that they do not have to be a cause of severe stress.
- Getting away from problems for a short time can lower stress levels and make people better able to deal with them:
- Leaving the telephone and iPod at home and going for a walk can take off the edge.
- Thinking about a peaceful scene and pretending to be there for a while, reading a book or watching a comedy can also help.
- Hobbies such as crafts that involve a great deal of handwork can be therapeutic.

Physical activity is one way of coping with stress and should be discussed with a woman's physician or midwife. Balance can be reduced during the last few months of pregnancy when a woman's abdomen grows, but exercises such as swimming do not require the right balance.

Avoiding taking on new projects and responsibilities is another way to avoid stress during pregnancy. Sometimes changes are inevitable, but if putting off a significant shift in life is possible, that is another thing to consider.