According to the American Diabetes Association, once you become prediabetic, the odds are that you will develop diabetes within 10 years.
Why is that important to aging in place? Because diabetes and heart disease both affect your blood vessels and increase your risk for dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, your odds of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s double every 5 years after age 65. So your chance of having dementia is almost 50% by age 85. Certainly that will affect your desire to age in place, because only 15% of Alzheimer’s patients continue to live alone.
So if you are a baby boomer like me, and you want to age successfully, shouldn’t you try to keep your blood glucose under control naturally, before it can only be controlled by medication?