Diabetes & the Heart

Physiology Students

Diabetes

Diabetes is a group of diseases that occurs when your blood sugar is too high.

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of heart related diseases, such as coronary heart disease (CHD), heart failure, diabetic cardiomyopathy, ect.

​

​

Continued (from previous slide)

Diabetes affects many part of the body including the heart because when someone has diabetes what it does to our heart is that it over works it and in response the arteries of the heart wear down and narrow a bit resulting in poor circulation. At least 68% of people (65 and older) die from a heart disease because of diabetes.

​

Cause & Effect

Diabetes has many drastic effects on the cardiovascular system and the body overall. The high glucose levels that are caused by diabetes can lead to a decrease in the elasticity of blood vessels. This will not allow the blood to flow normally through the blood vessels and there will be a low supply of blood, oxygen, and nutrients throughout the body.

Cause & Effect cont.

A decrease in the elasticity of blood vessels because of diabetes could also lead to a heart related disease such as high blood pressure. High blood pressure can also increase the risk of a heart attack, kidney failure, and hypertension.

Major Heart Arteries

• Aorta- it is the main artery that carries blood away from the heart to the rest of the body. It delivers oxygen rich blood to the body’s organs, brain, muscle and other cells.

​

• Pulmonary artery- it carries deoxygenated blood from the right ventricle to the lungs. The blood will become oxygenated (pick up oxygen in the lungs) and be carried back out to the heart.

​

Aorta

Pulmonary artery

Major Heart Veins

​

• Inferior Vena Cava- it carries deoxygenated blood from the lower half of the body to a section in the right side of the heart, which is known as the right atrium.

​

• Superior Vena Cava- it carries deoxygenated blood from the upper half of the body like the head, neck and chest, to the right atrium.

​

• Pulmonary veins- they carry oxygenated blood from the lungs back to the heart.

​

Inferior Vena Cava

Superior Vena Cava

Pulmonary veins

How Do We Prevent Diabetes from Leading to Cardiovascular Diseases?

​

1. The main goal you should have to prevent diabetes from affecting your cardiovascular system would be having a healthy diet. A healthy diet would consider a meal called “my plate”. “My plate” contains fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy.

​

​

​

​

Some meals you might be interested to try!

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Dinner:

How Do We Prevent Diabetes from Leading to Cardiovascular Diseases?

​

​

2. Another goal you could add to your daily life would be having a type of physical activity. A physical activity you could have would be playing a sport, running, jumping, walking, or even playing outside. To get that heart pumping!

​

​

How Do We Prevent Diabetes from Leading to Cardiovascular Diseases?

​

​

3. To be able to prevent diabetes from impacting your cardiovascular system would be aiming to maintain your weight. Maintaining your weight is important because if you don’t take care of your eating habits it can lead to being overweight. If you are overweight that can lead to bigger problems like obesity.

​

What’s my weight? Am I being healthy?

Are you wondering if you are at the right weight? Or if you are being healthy? I got the right resource for you!

Go on this website→ https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/bmi/calculator.html

Don’t be scared to check your weight because you would rather know now so you can take care of yourself :)

Follow these steps:

​

or

Example:

What can I do to take care of myself?

https://www.eatright.org/find-an-expert→ This website can help you find a local nutritionist. You can have a conversation with the nutritionist and talk about your diet with him or her.

https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/southern-california/facilities/Cudahy-Medical-Offices-100146?stop_mobi=yes → You can contact your doctor or you can go on this website to make your own research. Or you can contact Kaiser Permanente the one in Cudahy and ask them questions.

You can contact the wellness center at school or you can contact them on Instagram. @maces.sab

Diabetes can affect the cardiovascular system because high blood sugar can damage our blood vessels and the nerves that controls our heart.

How Can Diabetes Affect the Cardiovascular System ?