How does stress affect diabetes?

Stress is strongly linked to diabetes. Long-term stress can have a big impact on stable blood sugar levels in the body and make it more difficult for people to control diabetes.

Controlling diabetes is a long journey and can easily add stress to your daily life. According to research, prolonged stress creates a major barrier to effective glucose control. Stress hormones in the body have the ability to directly affect glucose levels. When you're stressed, your body produces a fight-back response. This response can increase hormone levels and activate nerve cells in the body.
So does stress raise blood sugar? When the body has a fight-back response to stress, the two hormones cortisol and adrenaline are released into the bloodstream and speed up respiration. The body will direct blood to the muscles and limbs to help you "fight" with this condition. In people with diabetes, the body cannot process glucose as it should, so glucose does not convert to energy and accumulates in the blood. This is what causes high blood sugar levels.
The long-term stress caused by blood sugar problems is also a factor that makes the patient vulnerable to physical and mental breakdown. This makes diabetes control more difficult.

In fact, stress can affect diabetes in many different ways. The type of stress you experience also has the potential to impact your body's physical response.
When type 2 diabetics experience emotional stress, they often experience hyperglycemia. For people with type 1 diabetes, the response is often more varied, meaning they may experience a drop or an increase in blood sugar levels depending on the circumstances.
When under physical stress, blood sugar also tends to rise. This happens mainly when you are injured or sick. Overall, this type of stress can affect both people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Tracking things like the date and what you're doing at times of stress can help identify specific triggers for hyperglycemia. For example, how often do you feel more mentally stressed on Monday mornings? If true, right now, you need to take special measures in the first morning of the week to reduce stress and control sugar levels in the body.
To see if this happens to you, get a handle on your stress and sugar levels. If you feel emotional stress occurring, rate your stress level on a scale of 1-10, where 10 represents the highest level of stress.
After you have assessed your stress level, you continue to check your blood sugar. You should maintain this measure for a few weeks to accurately monitor whether mental stress affects blood sugar levels. If you notice frequent spikes in glucose levels, this indicates that mental stress is having a negative impact on your blood sugar.

In certain cases, symptoms of stress may not be evident and make it difficult for you to realize they exist. Chronic stress is harmful to both mental, emotional and physical health. Recognizing the symptoms of stress will help you take measures to control the condition early. When stressed, your body will show the following typical signs:
Headache, pain or muscle tension. Constant fatigue. Feeling sick. Sleep too little or too much. Irritability, quick temper. No motivation, anxiety or restlessness. According to some studies, people with long-term stress also often have the following behaviors:
Avoiding friends and family. Loss of appetite or excessive food consumption. An act of outburst of anger. Abuse of alcohol. Smoke.

Reducing or limiting your stressors can help you manage your diabetes better. Here are some suggestions to help you reduce levels of different types of stress:
5.1 Ways to reduce mental stress Meditation is considered a useful way to get rid of negative thoughts and relax the mind. mind, dispel all stress. You can meditate for about 15 minutes starting every morning. When meditating, you can sit upright in a chair, put your feet on the floor, and close your eyes. Recite a "mantra" that is meaningful to you, such as "I'll have a good day". During meditation, try to get rid of any other thoughts that enter your head and let yourself feel present in the moment.
5.2 Ways to reduce emotional stress If you find yourself falling into a negative emotional state, take 5 minutes to remove them from your current environment. You should find a quiet space to focus on each breath. Place your hand on your stomach and feel the breath, take a deep breath, then exhale slowly. This can help slow your heart rate and return you to a stable emotional state. Focusing on your breath also helps you improve and deal with whatever is causing your stress.
5.3 How to reduce physical stress Practicing yoga every day is a useful solution to relieve prolonged physical stress. Yoga is a practice that involves meditation and physical activity at the same time. According to research, practicing yoga helps lower blood pressure levels and supports good control of hyperglycemia.
Every day, you should spend 30 minutes to practice gentle yoga movements. You can break it up into smaller sets, including 10 minutes when you wake up, 10 minutes in the late afternoon, and 10 minutes before you go to bed. This also has great benefits for heart health.
5.4 How to reduce family stress Family stress is another factor that affects diabetes management. If you are feeling overwhelmed by family obligations, be ready to say no or find other remedies. You can take some time alone or consider hosting a fun family dinner on the weekend. Sometimes, taking time to participate in outdoor activities such as swimming, walking or jogging also helps to relieve the load of stress from the family.
5.5 How to reduce stress at work Stressful problems at work can follow you home. Prolonged stress due to difficulties at work alters stable blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. To deal with this type of stress, you can talk to your boss about the problems you're having at work to better organize your tasks.
If job stress is constantly increasing, you might consider moving to another department or even looking for a new job that suits your personality and skills.
When you know the link between stress and diabetes, you can change and establish yourself a scientific lifestyle that helps improve your health condition for the better.

Reference source: healthline.com