Stress is harmful to us because it affects us mentally, emotionally and even physically, and as a result, can cause us to develop some really harmful illnesses. Hence, we should try to avoid it and when it can't be avoided we should always try our best to cope with it.

Below are ways to cope with stress. These ways are not the only ways and as a result, you don't have to do these exact things; so do something that makes you happy.

1. Read a book - Reading takes you to another place mentally and makes you forget about what's stressing you out.
2. Watch a movie
3. Hang out with family and friends
4. Listen to music
5. Keep yourself busy - By doing chores around the house, with work or taking care of family and pets. You can even volunteer at various places in your community like nursing homes etc.
6. Eat comfort foods that you love
7. Take a trip or vacation - Visit somewhere you always wanted to visit and create new fun memories.

Two things we should always remember and say to our self when we are stressed are:

• It won't last forever and I will get over it.
• My health is more important and bad things happen to others too (I'm not alone).

Image via pixabay

Type 2 diabetes can be life threatening and can cause a lot of other illnesses to occur. Some people cope with it all wrong and end up in quite a pickle, like losing their sight or worst die from it. People think that they are fine if they keep taking pills, but they need to check their blood sugar regularly to ensure that it's indeed high before they do so. Also, taking pills is not the only thing you need to do.

Image via pixabay

Some tips to effectively manage Type 2 diabetes are:

• Check your blood sugar regularly - You need to check it regularly to determine if you need to take pills or insulin and what doses. Death can occur because someone took medication without checking and their blood sugar is normal and it lowered their blood sugar too low. If this happens, take something that has sugar and can easily be digested by your body. Additionally, you should keep a record of your blood sugar readings to see how you're managing it and to see where you can make improvements.

• Change your diet - This is necessary because what you eat will obviously be broken down by your digestive system into sugar and find itself in your blood. Some foods have more sugar than others and diabetics need to eat more of the foods that are less in sugar rather than the ones with more (Read: 10 smart ways to reduce your sugar intake). Foods that are low in fat and cholesterol are best to consume also.

• Exercise - Get regular exercise and on some days that you feel lazy or not up to it, you can go for a nice long walk instead of running on a treadmill and this makes things more tolerable. If you're overweight, try your utmost to lose some weight (Read: The best ways to lose weight).

• Plan your day to day activities - Plan your exercises, meals and so on and you'll see that your life runs smoothly and your healthier.

• Educate yourself - You need to know more about this disease if you have it so that you know what to avoid and so on, what this means for your body and how you can be a much healthier person. Additionally, you need to know about the various diseases that can arise due to diabetes and how to prevent them or what to check for at the doctor.

• Get regular checkups at the doctor - Diabetes can lead to many other illnesses of the body and it's better to detect these illnesses at the beginning. What happens is that someone might not go and check their eyes and they might have diabetic retinopathy and so they don't know at the beginning and could become blind.