Many studies have demonstrated that when people with diabetes are intensively treated with insulin in order to maintain their glucose within the normal range, all the complications of diabetes can be prevented or delayed. However, such treatment carries a significant risk of severe hypoglycemia (excessively low blood glucose levels), which may be life-threatening. Thus, ideal treatment with insulin in patients with diabetes can be seen as a double-edged sword: intensive treatment will delay the complications but is also associated with an increased risk of disabling hypoglycemia. In normal conditions, when hypoglycemia occurs, the body responds by secreting a variety of hormones and by activating the autonomous nervous system which ultimately will result in increasing the blood glucose to normal levels. Patients with diabetes, lose this capacity to effectively respond to hypoglycemia and become more susceptible to a fall in plasma glucose. Paradoxically, repeated episodes of hypoglycemia—especially in the most vulnerable persons with type 1 who need insulin for life--induce a metabolic deterioration that further increases the risk of developing hypoglycemia.