Stress and blood sugar
Stress! Yet another potential saboteur on your quest to get your blood sugar under control.
Now, stress isn’t always ‘bad,’ it’s a great stimulus for the body and mind in the right doses, but I think we’re all aware of how too much can damage our health substantially.
In this article I’ll outline how stress impacts blood sugar metabolism and what we can do about it. And yes, I say we, because stress management is an area I tend to neglect as well (at least at the time of this article).
The how?
Fasten your seat belts (or skip entirely), there’s some biochemistry coming.
As you may already know, when our body experiences stress it secretes a number of hormones into the bloodstream. This includes cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), glucagon and growth hormone. On top of that, less insulin is secreted.
The reduction in insulin, alongside the increase in glucagon and epinephrine causes the liver to breakdown its stored glucose (glycogen) and release it into the bloodstream. The liver also increases its production of new glucose (gluconeogenesis).
The cortisol and growth hormone cause muscles and fat to be less insulin sensitive. This means more glucose will stay in the bloodstream and not get into the cells to be metabolised into ATP.
To bring that all together, less sugar getting into cells, more sugar being mobilised from storage into our bloodstream.
For a diabetic, or anybody trying to keep their blood sugar under control, this sounds like a lot of trouble.
Sounds horrible, why does my body do that?
The sympathetic nervous system (the part that responds to stressful situations) is necessary to get us out of stressful conditions alive, much more relevant to our paleolithic ancestors. This meant that things like digestion, reproduction and longer-term health (like maintaining a healthy blood sugar) wasn’t a priority. Energy gets diverted to the large muscles to get you ready to fight or run.
The issue nowadays is that our body still has this stress response, and we have a lot more chronic stressors vs the acute stressors our ancestors had. Regardless of whether the stress is life threatening or (a lot of ours aren’t) they’ll still trigger that same response in us.
What are these stressors?
The first thing to come to most people’s minds will be mental and emotional stress but did you know that infections, lack of sleep, chronic pain and serious illnesses are also significant stressors on the body?
What to do?
For a healthy individual, this is usually self-resolving, once the stressful situation is over and we’ve calmed down, blood sugar will eventually revert to baseline levels.
(You can still implement the advice below to improve your overall health).
For an insulin resistant, diabetic person it’s not so easy. Being insulin resistant makes it harder for the cells to take in sugar from the bloodstream. This leads to a longer elevation of blood sugar and all the nasties that come along with it.
AND if you’re the type of person to stay in a stress response, this can also spell disaster and put you on a fast track for diabetes.
Therapeutic interventions
Prioritise a healthy stress response
have a support network, this could be some friends you chat to or a mental health practitioner
Consider the use of adaptogenic and nervine herbs
Practises such as yoga, breathing exercises, tai chi and meditation have been shown to improve stress responses in the longer term
Reduce unnecessary stressors as best you can
During your day I invite you to become more aware of when you’re entering a stress response. Note the things that stress you. Are there ways you can remove these stressors or minimise them?
This may be a bit more difficult for physical stressors, especially with chronic infections etc. Consider working with a healthcare practitioner for this
Live in a bubble
Allow yourself a sleep in when you can
Improve your insulin sensitivity (as always) – longer term strategy
There is plenty you can do here, I’ve written about dietary strategies
Herbal strategies article is coming. But for now, check out THIS wonder herb
I’ve written a short piece on walking (summary, walk more) and high intensity exercise (summary, a little goes a long way)
Prioritize weight loss if you’re overweight/obese
Improve your pancreas’ health
Traditional herbs like Gymnema Sylvestre and Bitter Melon can work a treat
Minimize/treat damage from high blood sugar
This will vary based on the individual
Problem areas to look after usually include the kidneys, heart, brain and liver
What about exercise?
Exercise, paradoxically, can be another stressor on the body yet lowers blood sugar. This is because exercise increases insulin sensitivity, getting glucose out of the blood and into the cells easier.
If you’re already under a lot of stress, physically, emotionally and mentally then adding intense exercise may not be the best solution. Simply moving your body (ie walking) can have the effect of increasing insulin sensitivity and can help calm you down.
Conclusion
So is the solution to just not stress? Anybody who has heard this in a moment of stress, knows the advice is next to useless. Reduce your exposure to unnecessary stressors, employ some strategies to improve your resilience to stress and use the strategies to improve how your body metabolises sugar.
How do you manage and prevent stress in your life? Has this article inspired any changes?