Getting the Most Out of Lark for Diabetes - You Control Your Diabetes!

Diabetes may be a chronic condition that changes your life, but the course of diabetes can be changed. All kinds of factors affect your blood sugar, your risk for diabetes complications, and whether you get related conditions. Using Lark Diabetes Care can impact your diabetes and health, so great job getting started!

How does Lark Diabetes Care help? How can you get the most out of your program? Read on for insider tips to these and other questions that can change your life in a wonderful way! 

Why Manage Diabetes?

Insider Tips: Get the Most from Lark

You may have heard about the course that diabetes can take if your blood sugar stays too high. There are possible complications and risks for other conditions, but there is a reason your doctor may have recommended that you lower your blood sugar. 

The reason is that most of the effects of diabetes can be prevented or delayed. Things like weight loss, physical activity, and taking your medications properly can dramatically lower blood glucose and risk of complications. "Diabetes" is what you make of it; it is not a "one-size-fits-all" experience.

Why Lark Diabetes Care and You?

The truth is that you have more power than anyone else over your blood sugar. You are the one who decides what to eat, how much to exercise, when to take your blood glucose, and whether to take your medications. Yes, your doctor may have given you instructions about your daily self-care, but you choose to follow them.

That is a lot to do, and that is where Lark Diabetes Care comes in. Your Lark coach supports and encourages you, teaches you, reminds you to make good choices and why, and tracks your progress. It is like having a personal coach at your service 24/7.

Major Focus Areas

Lark guides you in the lifestyle behaviors and diabetes management behaviors that are known to lower blood sugar. These are some of the top ones.

1. Weight Loss

Losing a few pounds can lower fasting blood glucose and A1C significantly, so weight loss is a main focus of your program if you are overweight or obese.

2. Physical Activity

Getting active can improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood sugar. There are a few types of activity:

• Exercise – including cardio and resistance (weight) training
• Daily activity – such as taking the stairs and washing the dishes
• Breaking up sedentary time – such as standing up every half-hour while you're working at the computer

Just as a couple of examples, Lark tracks your activity and reminds you to break up sedentary time if you've been sitting for too long.

3. Diabetes Nutrition

Eating more nutritious foods and fewer junk foods can improve blood glucose levels. You can get these benefits even if you do not lose weight. Lark lets you log your food and provides instant feedback and weekly summaries of your food choices.

4. Blood Sugar Management

Take your blood sugar and you can find out how you are doing with your diabetes management program. You may also discover how different foods, activities, and even sleep patterns affect your blood sugar. Lark can show you your long-term trends and remind you to take your measurements. 

5. Medication Adherence

Yes, those medications can save your life! And yes, life can get in the way of taking them. Lark can help you take your meds and lower blood glucose.

6. And More...

You have opportunities to improve your blood glucose wherever you turn, day or night. Lark Diabetes Care will help you with sleep, stress management, and more. 

Habit Building

The ultimate goal for these lifestyle behaviors is for them to become habit so you do not need to think about them when you are making them. Once they are automatic, the healthy choices will be easier – and more frequent. 

Lark Diabetes Care wants to help you turn these choices into habits. The more you use the app, the more you practice those healthy behaviors, and the more they become second nature. That is what is going to get you the long-term results you deserve!

Lark wants you to be your healthiest self and to enjoy the journey. Thanks for taking Lark along!

The "Extras" and Beyond

As you have been finding out, Lark Diabetes Care can help you with the core aspects of diabetes management. By now, you may be well on your way to being a pro in:

• Losing weight
• Getting active
• Eating well
• Measuring blood glucose
• Taking your medications

Making good choices in these areas can make a world of difference in managing diabetes and staying healthy. There are a few more things you can do to get the most from Lark Diabetes Care.

Better Sleep

Did you know that having diabetes can make it more difficult to get enough sleep? Did you also know that getting adequate sleep is one of the best things you can do for your blood sugar? Cutting yourself short raises blood glucose levels. It also increases cravings for diabetes-unfriendly foods such as starchy and sugary foods. At the same time, your ability to resist these types of foods decreases.

These effects come when you are short on sleep for as little as one night. Just think how great the effects are if you are chronically sleep-deprived. Most people are, but Lark's sleep coaching can help you catch up. 

• Sleep tracking so you know how much you are sleeping.
• Conversations on your sleep patterns to raise awareness.
• Occasional tips on how to fall asleep faster, such as following a relaxing routine before bedtime.
• Ideas for improving sleep quality with certain foods.
• Motivation for making sleep a daily priority.

Sleep is not a luxury, but a health necessity. Lark Diabetes Care can help you get the sleep you need to support blood glucose control and give you the focus to make other great decision.

Stress

Is stress helping you or hurting you? Some stress is good, especially when you view it positively. It helps you rise to the occasion and accomplish what you need. Too much stress is bad if it becomes negative. You probably know firsthand that it can make you tired and cranky. It can also mess with your hormones and raise blood glucose.

Nobody can – or should – remove all stress, but you can strive to turn your stress into something that improves your
wellbeing. Your Lark coach can help by:

• Guiding you through in-the-moment stress management techniques to calm yourself instead of letting your stress hormones take over.
• Providing tips for reducing anxiety overall.
• Being available to chat anytime you feel stressed.

Turning stress into your friend instead of letting it drag you down can bring down your A1C levels. Make stress management part of your daily life! 

Your Personal Diabetes Assistant

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It is nice to have someone in your corner, and you can count on Lark Diabetes Care to have your back. You can almost think of your Lark coach as a personal assistant or manager. Your data are stored in the app so you can easily see your own information.

You can check for yourself and share with your doctor or nurse information such as weight loss progress, activity totals, blood glucose patterns, and medications. Using Lark is an easy way to store and access your most important health behaviors for diabetes.

Lark also helps keep you on track with the recommended medical appointments. Patients with diabetes should get regular checkups with the eye doctor, dentist, foot doctor, and possibly other specialists to identify or head off complications that can arise. Your Lark coach can help you stay on top of these recommendations so you know how often you should see your doctor.

Ongoing Support

You can chat with Lark anytime, and the more you do, the more your Lark coach gets to know you, and the more customized your program becomes. You could be reminded that you normally take a walk at this time, or you might be offered a suggestion for a healthy meal that can substitute for one of your usual meals.

As Lark helps you with weight loss and other core components of diabetes care and management, your coach supports you in long-term health management. As you use Lark, you develop habits that become natural to you. These habits are what will keep your blood sugar under control and keep you as healthy as possible for as long as possible. Welcome to your best life!