Type 2 diabetes can lead to a number of different complications throughout your body.
When blood sugar is high for a long period of time, the high blood sugar level actually damages your blood vessels.
The high blood sugar level is also guilty of damaging nerve fibers throughout the body.
These are the main causes of diabetes complications like vision loss.
In your eyes, the small blood vessels can be damaged by high blood sugar.
This can lead to eye complications including...

• cataracts,
• glaucoma, and
• diabetic retinopathy.
  

Cataracts cloud the lens of the eye, preventing light from entering.
Glaucoma is an eye disease in which pressure builds inside the eye, and occurs in older people but is not directly related to diabetes.
But the main cause of vision loss in Type 2 diabetics are forms of retinopathy - the enlargement, breakage, or leaking of tiny blood vessels in the eye, which can spill blood into the eyeball and threaten your vision.
The damage to the blood vessels can also make new, abnormal blood vessels grow on the surface of the retina.
Vision loss from retinopathy can happen in two ways.

• fluid from the damaged blood vessels can leak into the macula, the part of the eye that controls forward vision.
  The fluid causes the macula to swell, which results in blurred vision.
  
• vision loss can also happen when the new, abnormal blood vessels that grow, leak blood into the center of the eye, which also causes blurred vision.
  

If you have Type 2 diabetes, it's important to have an annual eye examination by an ophthalmologist or optometrist knowledgeable about diabetic retinopathy, and more frequent examinations if retinopathy is progressing.
The early stages of diabetic retinopathy can occur without any symptoms, so an eye exam could help catch the condition before it becomes too advanced.
The best way to prevent eye complications and vision loss is to tightly control your blood sugar.
If you can avoid your blood sugar getting too high, your blood vessels and nerves will not become damaged.
If you are having difficulty stablizing your blood sugar level throughout the day, talk to your doctor or diabetes team to see what changes you can make to your diabetes treatment.
The best ways to keep blood sugar from rising too high are following...

• a healthy meal plan that reduces simple sugars and spreads carbohydrates out throughout the day,
• exercising regularly, and
• losing weight if you need to.
  

Exercises for people with eye problems include...

• cycling,
• swimming, and
• walking

may be good aerobic exercises for people with retinopathy.
Low-intensity exercises such as using rowing machines, stationary bicycles, and treadmills also work well.