A new way to lower blood glucose levels

It can be really intimidating to learn how to properly control your blood sugar levels.

Numerous factors, the majority of which are outside your control, can impact your levels. Stress is one of those that should worry you the most. Your blood glucose levels may rise as a result, making it more challenging to maintain them within the suggested range or goal.

Even though stress is something that practically everyone encounters occasionally, one of the most useful skills for people with type 2 diabetes is knowing how to manage it.

Here are some more helpful type 2 diabetes management strategies. Although you may already know that stress can raise blood sugar levels, if you’re like most of us, you definitely want to know why.

Continue reading to learn more!

Table of Contents

Why Your Blood Glucose Levels Rise During Stress

There is stress everywhere. Stress can take control when your body perceives an attack, as can happen with a physical injury, disease, or even intense emotional upheaval. Problems in your personal life, relationships, work, health, or even finances can also lead to mental stress.

When you are under stress, your body prepares to respond. We refer to this as the fight-or-flight reaction. Your body starts to produce more hormones during this natural reaction. Your body’s cells store more fat, glucose, and energy as a result of elevated hormone levels. This storage system aids in the preparation of the cells that alert your body to an impending threat or danger.

Mixing Diabetes

Medically speaking, having Type 2 diabetes can make managing stress more challenging. More persistent stressors might come from a variety of sources. For example, the healing process of your body can take a long time after surgery. Your body’s stress hormones are usually made to handle significantly shorter durations of stress threats. However, chronic stressors such as surgery can result in prolonged elevation in blood glucose levels.

Additionally, chronic mental stress might send your body into overdrive when it comes to producing hormones. Your body cannot withdraw or “flee” as it is naturally programmed to do while it is continuously in the “fight” state. Much higher blood glucose levels may result from this.

There are two ways that stress can affect your blood glucose levels:

Stress hormones have the direct ability to raise or increase blood sugar levels.
Stressed-out people might not always take the greatest care of themselves, which could result in them exercising less, forgetting to check their blood sugar levels frequently, or even skipping meals.

What You Must Do

As a person with type 2 diabetes, the first thing you should do is find out how stress personally impacts your blood glucose levels. This may be accomplished simply by keeping track of your blood glucose readings and your present stress level, which you can rate on a one to ten scale. For a week or two, continue recording using this technique. This will enable you to see a pattern or trend in the way your blood glucose levels are impacted by physical or mental stress.

How to Manage or Decrease Stress

One strategy to try to control your blood glucose levels is to learn how to successfully manage your stress. Stress management can help you live a more easier life when combined with additional recommendations from your diabetes care team and your medication schedule.

Bringing About Changes in Life

It could be possible to get rid of all of your stressors. You might be able to locate an entirely new route if you feel that the traffic on your way to work is stressful for you. If you are unable to accomplish this, make plans to try to leave earlier in order to try to avoid the times when traffic is heavier.

If you find that your job is one of your main sources of stress, think about moving, if at all possible. In order to remove this stressor, you could try to sort things out or mend the connection if you are fighting or disagreeing with members of your extended family.

Techniques of Coping

Although getting rid of stressors is a terrific method to decompress, you can’t always get rid of everything. Acquiring coping skills can significantly lessen the amount of tension you experience when this happens.

Learning to solve problems is one method.

Solving Issues

Consider asking yourself, “What Can I do About this Stress?” This will help you consider the reasons behind your stress and identify strategies to lessen it.

Acceptance

Developing the ability to accept your situation and consider it as “not that bad” is another strategy. The first step in lessening the stress it generates is realizing that there is an issue and that it might not be as serious as you first imagined. Acquiring the ability to perceive the bright side of things can assist you in realizing that not all issues are “big” issues.

Engage in Exercise

One way to help manage tension and stress is to engage in some light exercise. Consider going for a quick stroll or going outside to breathe in some fresh air. These kinds of small acts can go a long way toward enhancing your mental health and reducing stress. Moreover, engaging in physical exercise is an excellent method of reducing blood glucose levels.

Grab A Few Zzzzz’s

Your body might easily become stressed out when you don’t get enough sleep. Stress can also disrupt your sleep, which can have an adverse effect on it. Prior to going to bed, try to reduce any distractions to help your body rest. Before going to bed, stay away from caffeine since this will simply boost brain activity and cause your brain to turn on rather than off. Maintaining a consistent evening routine might also aid in getting your body and mind ready for sleep.

Your body can recuperate and prepare for the next day through sleep. You might find that getting more sleep will significantly lower your stress levels as well.

Engaging in Mindfulness Practices

One way to lessen stress is to practice mindfulness, which teaches you to be conscious of your thoughts, feelings, and bodily experiences at any given time. Meditation is the first step toward learning the fundamentals of mindfulness.

You can end the cycle of tension, worry, or even sadness by practicing mindfulness. People often retreat from or even completely ignore others as a result of the pressures of daily living. These common methods of attempting to manage stress typically lead to a narrow focus on the bad, which in turn creates additional stress. People who make an effort to stay away from this negativity and instead concentrate on experiencing contentment and happiness are better able to manage any stress that may arise.

Being mindful helps you to live in the present without passing judgment. This teaches you to acknowledge and embrace your emotions rather than suppressing or denying them. You can address any resentment or shame you may be experiencing regarding the management of your type 2 diabetes by engaging in mindfulness practice.

Replacement of Thoughts

Try thinking of anything that makes you smile or laugh instead of a “negative” thought when you feel your thoughts wandering. Occasionally, in times of stress, a memorized poem, quotation, or even a prayer might assist to displace any negative thoughts.

Stress Diary

Maintaining a notebook or diary can be a useful tool for managing your stress. It will enable you to become more conscious of the things that make you feel anxious. It’s critical to record the date, time, and activity that the stress happened. Make sure you rate the stressful scenarios so you can identify the kinds of situations that stress you out more than others. This can assist you in figuring out how to steer clear of these circumstances in the future and acquire more effective coping mechanisms.

What About Stress Related to Diabetes?

One source of stress that you are not yet able to completely eliminate is type 2 diabetes! The good news is that, as we’ve already covered, there are strategies for lowering stress. This also applies to stressors associated with diabetes.

Support

There are lots of helpful support groups available, both offline and online. You may feel less alone if you engage with people who are sympathetic to your situation. You can pick up additional stress-reduction techniques from people with type 2 diabetes by talking to them about what works for them.

It’s crucial to discuss with your doctor any measures you might take to try to ease the burden if your diabetes care regimen has become too much to handle. Getting a therapy recommendation could assist you in talking about the aspects of your care that are stressing you out the most. Creating a more regimented routine could potentially alleviate some of the unexplained tension associated with blood glucose management.

In summary

Even while managing your blood glucose levels becomes more difficult when you have diabetes, it is still possible to do so. Even while stress makes managing your diabetes more difficult, you are more than capable of managing stressful situations effectively. Your blood glucose levels may directly benefit from learning how to manage your stress levels. You might be able to accomplish your diabetic goals with the aid of the preceding strategies and tactics.

It’s crucial to keep in mind that you should always see your doctor before starting any regular modifications, regardless of how minor they may be.

DiabetesCouncils Article | Reviewed by Dr. Christine Traxler MD on May 20, 2020