(HealthScoutNews) -- Stress management offers significant health benefits to people with diabetes, says a study presented today at the American Psychological Association's annual convention in Chicago.

The study included 108 people, age 30 and older, with Type II diabetes. Some did a five-session group diabetes education program that included stress management training, while others did the same program but didn't get the stress training.

The stress management program included information about stress-related health problems, instruction in cognitive and behavioral skills to recognize and reduce stress levels (for example, deep breathing and identification of major stressors), and training in progressive muscle relaxation.

The people in the study had their stress levels and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) levels checked at regular intervals over a year.

By the end of the year, 32 percent of the people taking the stress management training had at least a 1 percent or more decrease in their HbA1c levels, compared to only 12 percent of the group with no stress management training.

Changes in HbA1c levels as small as a half percent are associated with a major reduction on microvascular complications that can be found in poorly controlled diabetes.

"For someone already in good control of their diabetes, the reduction in HbA1c might bring them to near normal levels. For those in poorer control, it probably would not, but the reduction is associated with fewer diabetes complications for them as well," says study lead author Richard S. Surwit of Duke University Medical Center.

The study was published earlier this year in Diabetes Care journal.

More Information

The National Mental Health Association has some information on stress management.

Reference Source 101

For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".