Stress and Diabetes: How Mental Wellness Impacts Your Blood Sugar

Impact of stress on Diabetes and what you can do about it

Your body takes mental or physical stress as a threat and reacts accordingly; this reaction is known as the fight-or-flight response. When you are mentally or physically stressed, your body secretes adrenaline and cortisol- stress hormones into your bloodstream to help you manage the situation. Similarly, if you feel threatened by something, like seeing a dangerous animal or struggling to meet a deadline, research shows that these hormones trigger your body to secrete extra glucose into your bloodstream to boost your energy, making your body ready to fight the threat. This happens with everyone, but those suffering from Diabetes have a problem in processing glucose, which can result in a sugar spike. It's crucial to learn stress management to control the unexpected sugar spike through necessary lifestyle changes, a healthy diet, and with the help of prescription medications prescribed by your healthcare provider. The availability of diabetes generic drugs online also adds an additional advantage in the management of this condition.

How do different types of stress impact your diabetes?

Any kind of stress, whether it is emotional or physical, affects your diabetes. When you feel stressed, your body releases hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, also known as stress hormones, which increase insulin resistance in the body, thereby causing blood sugar levels to spike. Chronic stress keeps these hormones elevated, leading to high blood sugar levels, and it is also caused by leading an unhealthy lifestyle, such as ignoring diabetes management, an unhealthy diet, or inactivity. Below are a few types of stress and their impact on blood sugar levels:

Physical Stress: Impact of physical stress, like Injury, illness, infection, or surgery, stimulates the fight or flight response, causing the body to release the stored energy, leading to a significant spike in blood sugar level.

Mental stress: These are usually the emotional stress that emerges due to work pressure, family problems, or anxiety. It increases cortisol production, constantly elevating blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes, whereas in type 1 diabetes, mental stress can cause unpredictable spikes and drops in glucose levels.

Chronic stress: Long-term exposure to stress hormones can cause "stress-induced diabetes." It can also make it harder to manage the diabetes that you already have.

Good stress: Excitement or thrill seems to be positive, but intense as it may also trigger the same amount of hormonal response, contributing in sugar level spike.

How to identify if mental stress is causing glucose spikes?

It becomes crucial for one to understand the reason for the glucose spike, and the real cause can be traced if you keep a regular track of your blood sugar levels. Start keeping your records to identify the patterns, such as after heated arguments, stressful meetings, or an anxiety episode. Stress definitely triggers the stress hormones in both diabetic and non-diabetic people, which makes the liver release stored glucose for extra energy to prepare you for a fight or flight situation. Once you start keeping track, you will learn the reason for the sugar spike, making it easier for you to resolve or manage the problem. Similarly, you should practice the same process with your food-based spikes; however, stress may stimulate cravings, leading you to eat more processed or sugary foods, which, in turn, disrupts glucose levels. As compared to food-based spikes, which are temporary, stress causes a prolonged, sustained sugar spike, also called hyperglycaemia. If you feel your stress is overwhelming, see your doctor for a better management plan.

How to recognise stress and reduce it?

Stress can impact almost every element of your life, including mental, physical, and emotional well-being. It affects your daily routine, like your sleep cycle, increases anxiety, and can even affect your memory. Usually, we are so habituated to this mental condition that sometimes the symptoms of stress feel very little and go unnoticed. The ability to recognise stress and reason why it is stimulated may give you an advantage in managing it. Physical stress may include fatigue, muscle pain, headache, increased sleeping time, a common feeling of illness, followed by lack of motivation, feeling depressed, anxious, restlessness, and irritation. These symptoms may engage you in behavioural issues that do not define your original character, like being alone, excessive munching or eating very little, alcohol/tobacco consumption, and being short-tempered.

The symptoms above may be alarming, but the good news is that it is possible to control or limit your stress level by making a few lifestyle changes.  Some of the most common ways to manage different forms and effects of stress are through regular exercise, yoga, and meditation. You should also avoid stressful social situations and spend time with your loved ones. Reducing caffeine intake can also be a beneficial step toward kicking stress and its symptoms out of your life.

What precautionary measures should one take to manage diabetes?

Mental wellness contributes the most to diabetes management. You should be mentally prepared to defeat any health condition, even a chronic disease such as diabetes. Apart from managing your stress level, there are various aspects by which you can prevent diabetes and its forms. Taking prescription oral medications is the key to managing the condition; however, before you buy diabetes medication online, you need to know that exercising daily, maintaining a healthy weight, eating a balanced diet, and managing stress can contribute a lot to the fight against this chronic disease. You should have regular check-ups to monitor your blood sugar levels and prevent conditions like heart disease, kidney problems, and vision loss.

Takeaway

Diabetes can change your whole life, but that does not mean you cannot live a happy life. You just need to be extra cautious managing your mental wellness. Instead of thinking too much and getting stressed, you need to activate your combat mode and fight this condition. Once you are aware of the triggers that are affecting your mental wellness, work on them by practising reduction techniques, and you can certainly manage the condition. Once you know how to manage your stress and make some lifestyle changes, you can take charge of this chronic condition and live your life to the fullest.