There is a connection between stress and diabetes because of several reasons. Stress, in other words, may both cause and be a symptom of diabetes. Blood sugar and glycated hemoglobin levels can both rise as a result of stress. In this post, we will discuss the relationship between stress and blood sugar.
What is stress?
Stress is the way your body and mind react to new or unpleasant conditions. It might be something short-term, such as worrying about a lecture you’ll be presenting the next day. Or something long-term, such as going to a party and not knowing how you’ll manage with such a huge crowd. It might also be a physical event, such as an accident or disease.
Your body releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline when you’re anxious. This should provide you with enough energy to respond to a fight or flight situation. Insulin resistance occurs when hormones make it difficult for insulin to operate effectively. Because you can’t get enough energy into your cells, your blood sugar levels rise.
Managing your stress
If you don’t manage your stress, it might raise your blood sugar levels and put you at risk for diabetic problems. It can also have an impact on your mood and how you care for yourself, which can have a negative impact on your mental health.
Diabetes may be stressful, especially in the early stages when you just caught this disease. It might be difficult to pay close attention to what you eat while also learning and remembering a lot of new information. It may mean that you must constantly monitor your blood sugar levels or inject yourself every day, which may be quite stressful.
Some persons with diabetes may experience feelings of helplessness, frustration, and anguish from time to time. Some people are concerned about developing complications, while others feel guilty if their diabetes management goes off course. When you’re under a lot of stress, this sense of being helpless might become much worse.
This can have a negative impact on your blood sugar and your diabetes may get worsen. Therefore, it is extremely vital to understand and control the impacts of stress on your blood sugar. Diabetics are advised to stay calm and treat diabetes just like an ordinary illness. In this way, much of the stress is reduced which is primarily due to the disease itself.
As for external stress like in relationships, money, or any other, it is recommended that you should take them lightly and consult your loved ones as they care for you. A sense of being loved is the best thing in this world and everything can be solved or taken care of with the help of your loved ones. Even in some cases, researches have shown that people may get a level 2 diabetes because of severe stress.
Thus, it is not only about controlling your diabetes by controlling your stress. It is also about preventing diabetes to happen in the first place since excessive stress is one of the causes of level 2 diabetes.