There was a time when diabetes was spoken of largely as a disease of old age. The image was familiar: an elderly person checking blood sugar, taking medicines and being advised to stay away from sweets. For generations, that picture shaped public understanding of the disease.
Diabetes is increasingly appearing among young adults, professionals, students and adolescents. A condition once associated primarily with ageing is becoming one of the defining health challenges of a younger generation. What makes this transformation particularly concerning is that it is happening quietly. Many young people do not consider themselves vulnerable, and some may have no obvious symptoms even while metabolic problems are developing.
The changing face of diabetes is therefore more than a medical statistic. It is a reflection of how dramatically modern life has changed.
We eat differently. We move less. We sit for longer. We spend more time in front of screens. We depend increasingly on vehicles even for short journeys. Convenience foods are readily available, while regular physical activity is often treated as something that has to be deliberately scheduled rather than naturally incorporated into daily life.
The result is an environment in which metabolic disorders can develop much earlier.
The World Health Organization estimates that the number of adults living with diabetes worldwide increased from around 200 million in 1990 to 830 million in 2022, while adult diabetes prevalence has doubled over the same period. These figures represent far more than a growing patient population. They point towards a profound transformation in the health consequences of modern lifestyles.
For young people, the most dangerous assumption may be the simplest one: “I am young, so diabetes cannot happen to me.” It can.
Type 2 diabetes develops when the body becomes less responsive to insulin and, over time, is unable to maintain normal blood glucose levels. Age is one risk factor, but it is not a shield.
Genetic susceptibility, excess body weight, abdominal obesity, physical inactivity, unhealthy dietary patterns, sleep problems and other metabolic factors can contribute to the development of insulin resistance and diabetes at a much younger age.
This is particularly significant for South Asian populations.
People of South Asian origin can develop insulin resistance and metabolic abnormalities at comparatively lower levels of body weight than some other populations. This means that the traditional visual definition of obesity can be misleading. Someone may not appear significantly overweight and may even consider themselves fit while carrying substantial metabolic risk, particularly around the abdomen.
This is why the absence of an obviously large body size should never be confused with the absence of risk.
A young adult can look perfectly healthy while blood sugar is gradually rising, blood pressure is increasing, cholesterol is becoming abnormal and abdominal fat is accumulating.
The disease can remain invisible until a routine test—or a complication—reveals what has been happening beneath the surface.
That silent nature makes prevention and early detection particularly important.
The modern lifestyle has quietly rewritten the equation.
A young person may spend several hours sitting in a classroom, followed by hours at a desk preparing assignments or working. The journey home may happen by car, motorcycle or public transport. Once home, additional time may be spent scrolling through social media, watching videos or playing games.
The human body, however, was not designed for prolonged inactivity.
Walking has increasingly been replaced by motorised transport. Outdoor games compete with digital entertainment. Active social interaction has often been replaced by screen-based leisure. Even occupations that once required movement have become increasingly sedentary.
The problem is not that every young person eats fast food or occasionally drinks a sweetened beverage. Nor is the solution to demonise every modern convenience.
The concern arises when unhealthy choices become routine and inactivity becomes a lifestyle.
Sugary drinks, highly processed foods, refined carbohydrates, frequent snacking and oversized portions can collectively contribute to excessive calorie intake. At the same time, insufficient physical activity means fewer opportunities for the body to use that energy efficiently.
Over time, this imbalance can contribute to weight gain, insulin resistance and metabolic disease.
The good news is that lifestyle is also one of the areas where individuals and communities have considerable scope to intervene.
Physical activity is among the simplest tools available for improving metabolic health.
Regular movement can improve insulin sensitivity, help maintain healthy body weight and support cardiovascular health. It can also contribute to mental wellbeing, sleep quality and overall physical fitness.
Yet physical inactivity has become a global public-health challenge.
The WHO estimated that nearly 1.8 billion adults worldwide were insufficiently physically active in 2022.
That figure should force us to reconsider what we have come to regard as a normal day.
A healthy routine does not necessarily require an expensive gym membership, specialised equipment or a professional trainer. For many people, it can begin with something considerably simpler: walking.
Taking the stairs instead of the lift, walking short distances instead of automatically using a vehicle, playing an outdoor sport, cycling, gardening or taking regular movement breaks during prolonged periods of sitting can all contribute to a more active routine.
For children and adolescents, the issue is even broader.
Physical activity should not be viewed merely as an extracurricular activity that competes with academic achievement. A healthy body supports learning, concentration and emotional wellbeing. Schools that encourage children to move are investing not only in physical fitness but also in long-term health.
The Silent Disease Problem
One of diabetes’ most dangerous characteristics is its ability to remain silent.
Some people experience increased thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, blurred vision or unexplained changes in weight. Others may notice little or nothing.
A young person may therefore continue attending college, working long hours, travelling, socialising and managing family responsibilities without knowing that blood glucose is gradually increasing.
This is where awareness becomes crucial.
By the time diabetes is diagnosed, metabolic damage may already have begun. Persistently elevated blood glucose can affect blood vessels and nerves and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, vision problems and other complications.
When diabetes begins at a young age, the consequences can be especially significant because the person may potentially live with the disease for several decades.
This makes prevention particularly valuable.
The objective should not be to create anxiety among young people or encourage everyone to undergo unnecessary testing. Rather, healthcare systems and individuals should become more attentive to risk factors.
A young person with a strong family history of diabetes, significant abdominal obesity, high blood pressure or other metabolic risk factors should not assume that age alone eliminates the need for appropriate medical advice or screening.
It Is Not Just About Sugar
Public discussion about diabetes often reduces the disease to one simple warning: “Don’t eat too much sugar.”
While excessive consumption of sugary foods and beverages can contribute to poor metabolic health, this explanation is incomplete.
Diabetes is influenced by a much wider combination of factors.
Body composition, waist circumference, physical activity, dietary quality, genetics, blood pressure, lipid levels, sleep and overall lifestyle all matter.
Focusing only on sweets can create a false sense of security. Someone may avoid desserts but consume large quantities of refined carbohydrates, highly processed foods or calorie-dense snacks while remaining physically inactive.
Similarly, someone who is not visibly obese may assume that they have no risk.
The better approach is to think in terms of overall metabolic health.
A healthy lifestyle is not about eliminating one food. It is about developing a pattern of eating and living that supports the body over the long term.
Why Kashmir Needs to Pay Attention
For Jammu and Kashmir, the issue deserves particular attention.
The region is experiencing rapid social and lifestyle changes, especially in urban areas and among younger populations. Traditional dietary patterns increasingly coexist with packaged foods, fast food, sugary beverages and convenience-oriented eating.
At the same time, the structure of daily life is changing.
Young people may spend more time indoors, travel more frequently by vehicle and engage less regularly in physical activities that were once naturally integrated into everyday life.
This does not mean that the past was perfect or that modernisation itself is harmful.
Modern healthcare, technology, education, connectivity and improved living standards have brought enormous benefits.
The challenge is to modernise without abandoning the healthy elements of traditional life.
Kashmir has long had a culture of walking, seasonal foods, home-cooked meals and community-based activities. These traditions need not be treated as relics of the past. They can be adapted to contemporary life.
The objective should be neither to reject modernity nor to romanticise tradition.
It should be to combine the best of both.
Food Habits Need a Reset, Not a Revolution
Healthy eating is sometimes presented as an expensive project involving imported foods, specialised diets or complicated meal plans.
It does not have to be.
For most families, healthier eating can begin with relatively simple principles: more whole and minimally processed foods, greater consumption of vegetables and appropriate portions of fruits, reduced intake of sugary beverages and highly processed snacks, and greater attention to portion sizes and overall dietary balance.
Traditional home-cooked meals can often provide a strong foundation.
The challenge is to ensure that convenience does not permanently displace nutritional quality.
Young people in particular are surrounded by aggressive marketing of processed foods. The easier and more visible option is not always the healthier one.
Families can influence this environment by making healthier food the default choice at home.
Schools and colleges can do the same through their canteens.
Public institutions can consider how food environments shape behaviour rather than relying exclusively on health messages telling individuals to “make better choices.”
Choice is influenced by availability.
If unhealthy options are cheap, accessible and aggressively marketed while healthier choices are difficult to find, personal responsibility alone cannot solve the problem.
Schools Are the First Line of Prevention
Diabetes prevention should begin long before adulthood.
Schools have a unique opportunity to shape lifelong habits. Physical education should not be treated as an expendable subject that gives way whenever academic pressure increases.
Children need opportunities to run, play, walk and participate in sports.
Schools can also help students understand nutrition without turning food into a source of fear or guilt. The message should be about balance, moderation and long-term wellbeing.
Healthy habits established during childhood are more likely to continue into adulthood.
Colleges can build on this foundation by promoting active campuses, healthier food options and awareness programmes focused on metabolic health.
Young people should understand that prevention is not something reserved for middle age.
It begins with everyday decisions.
Workplaces Must Address the Sedentary Culture
The diabetes challenge does not stop at educational institutions.
Young professionals are increasingly spending long hours at desks. Remote and hybrid working arrangements can further blur the boundaries between work and rest, sometimes resulting in prolonged periods of sitting.
Employers can encourage healthier routines without reducing productivity.
Short active breaks, standing or walking meetings where practical, workplace fitness initiatives and healthier cafeteria options can all contribute.
The objective should not be to turn offices into gyms.
It should simply be to recognise that eight or ten hours of uninterrupted sitting is not a neutral lifestyle choice.
A workplace that takes employee health seriously can potentially reduce long-term healthcare burdens while improving wellbeing and productivity.
Families Remain the Most Powerful Influence
Health policy matters, but many lifestyle habits are formed at home.
Families determine what food is available, how meals are structured and often how children understand physical activity.
Parents who encourage balanced eating and active lifestyles are giving children a form of preventive healthcare that no medicine can fully replace.
This is particularly important when there is a family history of diabetes.
Genetic susceptibility cannot be changed. But awareness of risk can change behaviour.
A family history should not create fatalism—“everyone in our family gets diabetes, so I will too.” It should encourage vigilance.
Knowing that risk exists creates an opportunity to act earlier.
Healthcare Must Shift Towards Prevention
Doctors and healthcare institutions will remain essential to managing diabetes, but the health system cannot carry the entire burden after disease has developed.
A preventive approach requires greater emphasis on risk assessment, awareness and early detection.
Primary healthcare centres can play an important role in identifying people with metabolic risk factors and guiding them towards appropriate testing and lifestyle interventions.
The aim should be to detect problems while there is still considerable opportunity to change their trajectory.
Prediabetes, for example, should not be treated as an insignificant warning. It can be a critical opportunity for intervention.
The conversation in clinics should therefore move beyond prescribing medicines.
Where appropriate, it should include questions about physical activity, diet, sleep, weight, family history and daily routines.
The patient is not simply a blood sugar number.
They are a person living within a particular social and economic environment.
Prevention Does Not Require Extremes
One reason health advice is sometimes ignored is that it can sound unrealistic.
Young people hear messages about extreme diets, demanding exercise programmes and complete lifestyle transformations. Faced with such expectations, many conclude that healthy living is too difficult.
Prevention does not need to begin with extremes.
It can begin with walking regularly.
It can begin with replacing sugary drinks with healthier alternatives.
It can begin with reducing prolonged sitting.
It can begin with eating more whole foods and fewer highly processed snacks.
It can begin with maintaining a healthy weight.
It can begin with paying attention to waist circumference and other indicators of metabolic health.
Most importantly, it can begin with consistency.
A modest change maintained for years is more valuable than an extreme change maintained for two weeks.
A Public-Health Challenge Requires a Public Response
The rising burden of diabetes cannot be solved by telling individuals to exercise more.
The environment in which people live matters.
Are there safe places to walk?
Do children have access to playgrounds?
Are healthy food choices available in schools and colleges?
Can workers take movement breaks?
Are communities receiving clear information about diabetes risk?
Are primary healthcare services equipped to provide appropriate screening and counselling?
These are policy questions as much as personal ones.
Urban planning, transport policy, education, food systems and healthcare are all connected to metabolic health.
If cities are designed primarily around vehicles rather than pedestrians, physical activity becomes harder.
If school canteens are dominated by unhealthy convenience foods, children are repeatedly exposed to poor choices.
If workplaces reward uninterrupted sitting for long hours, sedentary behaviour becomes normal.
Prevention therefore requires a whole-of-society approach.
The Cost of Ignoring the Trend
The consequences of younger-onset diabetes extend beyond individual health.
A person who develops diabetes at 30 may potentially live with the disease for several decades. The longer duration of illness increases the importance of managing blood glucose and other cardiovascular risk factors carefully.
There are also economic consequences.
Chronic disease can affect productivity, household finances and quality of life. Complications can require prolonged medical care and may affect an individual’s ability to work.
For families, the financial and emotional burden can be substantial.
For the healthcare system, an expanding population of younger patients means greater long-term demand for treatment and monitoring.
Prevention is therefore not merely a personal health decision.
It is an investment in the social and economic wellbeing of future generations.
Changing the Conversation
Perhaps the most important intervention is psychological.
We need to stop thinking of diabetes as an inevitable disease of old age.
Young age is not immunity.
A 20-year-old can develop insulin resistance. A 30-year-old can have prediabetes. A person who looks outwardly healthy can have significant metabolic risk.
At the same time, we should avoid creating fear.
The purpose of greater awareness is not to make young people anxious about every meal or every fluctuation in weight. Nor should it create stigma around people who develop diabetes.
Diabetes is a medical condition, not a moral failure.
The right response is awareness, prevention, early detection, appropriate treatment and sustained support.
Kashmir Has an Opportunity to Act Early
For Jammu and Kashmir, the emerging diabetes challenge should be treated as an opportunity to strengthen preventive healthcare before the burden becomes even greater.
Schools can promote daily physical activity.
Colleges can build healthier campus environments.
Workplaces can address prolonged sitting.
Families can make balanced meals and active routines part of everyday life.
Healthcare providers can improve risk awareness and appropriate screening.
Local authorities can create spaces that make walking and recreation easier.
Community organisations can turn diabetes awareness into a year-round effort rather than limiting it to an annual health day.
The message should be consistent:
Prevention is not something that begins after a diagnosis. It begins before it.
The younger generation should not have to wait until a blood test delivers bad news before thinking about metabolic health.
The Health We Build Today
Diabetes is getting younger because society itself is changing.
We have created environments in which sitting is easy, driving is convenient, processed food is widely available and screens occupy an increasing share of our waking hours.
But the same society can choose differently.
We can design healthier schools.
We can build more walkable communities.
We can make physical activity part of daily life.
We can improve the food environment.
We can make preventive healthcare more accessible.
We can teach children that fitness is not merely about appearance but about the health of the heart, blood vessels and metabolism.
And we can remind young adults that taking care of their health is not an admission that they are old.
It is an investment in remaining healthy for longer.
The new face of diabetes is younger, quieter and closely connected with the way modern society eats, works, travels and spends its leisure time. If we wait until today’s young adults become tomorrow’s patients, prevention will always arrive too late.
The better question is not simply, “How do we treat diabetes?”
It is:
“How do we prevent the next generation from developing it too early?”
For Kashmir, that conversation must begin now.
Not when today’s students become tomorrow’s patients.
Not when young professionals begin taking daily medicines.
Not when preventable complications appear.
But while there is still time to change the course.
Because the most successful diabetes intervention is not the one that treats the disease after it arrives. It is the one that helps ensure the disease does not arrive so early in the first place.
About the Author:Rajesh Prasad Jayaswal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, University Institute of Allied Health Sciences, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab. His academic and research interests include Medical Laboratory Technology, Clinical Biochemistry, Pathology, and allied health sciences.Author can be mailed at rpjayaswal107@gmail.com
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