Emotional or physical anxiety can lead to a sensation of stress. Anything that makes you feel upset, furious, or scared is a potential precursor to it.
When you are under pressure, your body responds by producing chemicals associated with stress, such as cortisol and adrenaline.
Insulin resistance is caused by hormone interference, preventing insulin from effectively performing its normal functions. Your blood sugar levels rise as your cells cannot obtain the energy they need.
Hyperglycemia refers to an elevated amount of blood sugar (full name hyperglycemia). Diabetes issues are more likely if stress doesn’t go away and your blood sugar stays high. Thus stress can cause diabetes.
Stress can influence your mood, self-care, and emotional wellness. In this context, we will represent how to deal with stress and how it is responsible for causing diabetes.
Table of contents
- How Stress Is connected To Diabetes?
- Is Stress to Blame for Diabetes?
- Types of Stress and Diabetes
- Diabetes Causes Stress
- What Effect Does Stress Have On Your Diabetes?
- What Is The Emotional Impact of Diabetes?
- How Can You Tell Whether Stress Is Affecting Your Blood Sugar Levels?
- How to Handle Stress
- Depression & Stress
- Depression Symptoms
- Conclusion
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
How Stress Is connected To Diabetes?
Stress affects every area of your body. Hormones are released, muscular tension is increased, and heart health is harmed. Some of these changes are temporary. But if you are stressed on a regular basis, they can mount up and negatively impact your long-term health.
When you’re diagnosed with diabetes, you’ll almost certainly have to manage it for the rest of your life. Tracking your blood sugar levels requires regular effort, which can add stress to your day. Understanding how stress affects & causes your diabetes and learning stress-reduction techniques can help you better control your blood sugar levels.
Is Stress to Blame for Diabetes?
YES! Stress is one of the leading causes of diabetes. And it is also the leading cause of many diseases in this day of technological advancements and discoveries that might make life simpler for people. However, stress levels are rising in our society, affecting our bodies in a variety of ways.
Our CNS (Central Nervous System) controls our stress reaction. The hypothalamus tells surreal gays to release adrenaline and cortisol stress chemicals. These hormones raise your heart rate and supply blood to emergency organs. These organs such as your muscles, heart, and other major organs.
When anxiety is gone, the hypothalamus must instruct all systems to return to normal. If the CNS does not return to normal or if the stressor does not decrease, the reaction will continue.
Stress has an impact on your respiratory system. hich helps you breathe quickly, heartburn, a weakened immune system, and tense muscles, and skin, among other things. Stress is a factor. It causes the liver to release too much blood glucose, which eventually leads to diabetes.
Chronic diabetic hyperglycemia is thought to be caused by stress. For a long time, stress has been demonstrated to have major effects on metabolic function. Anger’s principal result is energy mobilization. Stress causes the production of many hormones, which might result in elevated blood glucose levels.
While this is adaptive in a stable body, it is impossible to properly digest glucose fluctuations in diabetes. This is due to a relative or actual lack of insulin. In addition, stress hormone regulation in diabetes is unusual.
Types of Stress and Diabetes
People who suffer from depression, anxiety, exhaustion, or a combination of these conditions are more likely to acquire diabetes, according to a 2010 study.
A multitude of stress factors, according to the experts, can raise a person’s risk of developing diabetes, including:
Upsetting or painful life situations overall emotional strain aggression and fury work-related stress sleep deprivation
Diabetes Causes Stress
Living with a long-term disease can be stressful. Controlling blood sugar levels in a chronic condition like diabetes necessitates daily effort. This comprises:
- Taking drugs as prescribed
- Keeping track of your blood sugar levels
- Changing your eating habits
- Getting in Shape
- Increase Physical activity
People with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, are prone to burnout as a result of the day-to-day duties connected with managing the disease. However, remaining on top of your diabetes management routine can also help you manage your stress levels.
What Effect Does Stress Have On Your Diabetes?
People may react differently to stress. The type of stress you experience has an impact on your body’s physical response.
When people with type 2 diabetes experience emotional exhaustion, their blood sugar levels tend to rise. Individuals with type 1 diabetes may react differently.
This implies you can either increase or reduce your blood glucose levels. When you are physically stressed, your blood sugar levels will also rise. This will happen whether or not you are ill. Patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes will be affected.
What Is The Emotional Impact of Diabetes?
When you’ve recently been told you have diabetes. Whether it is a new or long-standing ailment, dealing with it will cause a maelstrom of emotions. These emotions could include:
- Depression
- Nervousness
- Annoyance
- Dissatisfaction
- Anxiety
- Stress
How Can You Tell Whether Stress Is Affecting Your Blood Sugar Levels?
People should keep track of their blood glucose levels throughout the day. This is to check if any unpleasant activities are creating a spike. They should keep a journal of their thoughts and the last meal they ate.
People would then present their readings to their doctors for inspection. When a doctor suspects that stress is affecting a patient’s blood sugar levels, he or she may consider other options to assist the patient to relax.
The Impact of Stress on Blood Sugar
Stress has numerous effects on blood sugar, the majority of which are connected to hormones. When you’re anxious, your body goes into fight-or-flight mode. This is how it prepares to defend itself against a perceived threat.
This can be caused by everyday stressors such as job or family concerns, or by an acute sickness such as the flu.
During the fight-or-flight response, your body will release two hormones:
- Adrenaline
- Cortisol
“Adrenaline causes the production of glucagon, a hormone that has a direct impact on blood sugar levels.”
Insulin’s Opposing Action is Glucagon, which causes:
- Insulin encourages cells to take in sugar from the diet, providing glucose for energy. Pancreas releases insulin when blood sugar levels are high.
- Glucagon, on the other hand, encourages your liver to release glucose that has been stored and to produce additional glucose. Alpha cells release glucagon when blood sugar levels are low.
During acute and chronic episodes of perceived stress, your body produces these chemicals. Because people who are at risk for or have been diagnosed with diabetes have a harder time using insulin to control glucose within their cells. This response can throw off blood sugar levels over time.
High cortisol levels have also been linked to higher blood sugar levels and lower insulin production in studies. 3 Higher blood sugar levels are caused by increased amounts of this hormone, which cause glucose synthesis.
“Stress has a mental toll as well, making it more difficult to maintain good health”.
Compare your stress levels to your blood sugar levels. This is to see if stress is affecting your blood sugar levels. According to one study, you should rate your felt stress on a scale of one to ten (ten being the most anxious) while also documenting your blood sugar level. You may notice a trend in your stress and blood sugar levels after a few weeks of tracking.
How to Handle Stress
Using ways to help control your stress levels, you can lessen your reactivity to stressors. Self-care exercises can make you feel better all day and lessen the negative impacts of stress on your health.
Stress-Reduction Techniques
The following approaches can aid with stress management:
- Meditating: has been proved to assist your mind and body relax and minimize negative thinking. If you’re not used to sitting and meditating, start with a three-minute meditation to get acclimated to being still.
- Taking a deep breath: It’s usual for heart and breathing rates to increase in response to stress.
- Physical activity: reduces stress by releasing some of the energy created during the stress reaction. It also helps those with diabetes by improving the body’s capacity to handle insulin effectively.
- Journaling: Getting your thoughts out of your head and alleviating stress by writing them down.
- Conversation with a loved one: Speaking with someone about your worries can make you feel less anxious and more supported.
Diabetes Assistance
Managing a chronic illness can be isolating, but you don’t have to go through it alone. There are numerous online and in-person assistance sources.
Look for community support groups in nearby hospitals, community centers, or on the Diabetes Association’s website. You could also request a referral to a group outpatient treatment from your doctor.
Depression & Stress
Everyone is susceptible to depression. Stress, depression, and anxiety can leave you feeling hopeless if they don’t go away. If you’re experiencing depressive symptoms, talk to your doctor about it and seek treatment to manage your emotions.
Depression Symptoms
- Loss of enjoyment or interest
- Sleep disturbances fatigue and inability to concentrate
- Withdrawal from friends and previously enjoyed activities
- Completing tasks with difficulty and a drop in performance
- Seek assistance
Conclusion
Diabetes can bring a variety of difficulties into your life, including stress. Stress can cause blood sugar levels to fluctuate, making diabetes management more challenging. Stress management techniques can assist you in managing your diabetes and allowing you to enjoy a happy, healthy life.
Finding assistance that works for you and adopting lifestyle adjustments can help you manage your blood sugar levels more efficiently.
Read More: