Stress has a very negative effect on both your mental and physical health. If you suffer from other serious conditions, stress can only make the symptoms worse. Because of how stress affects blood sugar levels, this is especially true for people with diabetes.
How Your Body Reacts to Stress
When your body detects the presence of stress and anxiety, it sees it as an attack. As such, the central nervous system prepares your body for the battle. It does this by producing increased amounts of adrenaline and cortisol.
These two hormones have a direct impact on your coronary system. Your heart starts pumping blood and rushing it to different parts of your body. This is to ensure that all your organs have enough energy to fight the symptoms of stress. And there are many possible symptoms, ranging from heartburn to trouble breathing.
If stress is a constant in your life, it can result in a number of chronic illnesses. These include severe insomnia, infertility, and even heart attack. Moreover, stress also affects your blood sugar levels, which can worsen the symptoms of diabetes.
Stress and Diabetes
Stress affects blood sugar levels, although not directly. Your body produces adrenaline to fight off stress. High levels of this hormone prompt your liver to release more insulin into your bloodstream. But your body also produces cortisol, which reduces your body’s sensitivity to insulin.
This isn’t such a big problem for people who don’t have diabetes. Even when under severe stress, their body can produce enough insulin to keep the blood sugar levels in check. But because of elevated adrenaline and cortisol levels, the same doesn’t apply to diabetics.
As such, stress affects blood sugar levels in two ways. Due to a surge in adrenaline levels, it raises the levels of blood glucose. This condition is also known as hyperglycemia. Then cortisol kicks in, which lowers your blood glucose levels, thus resulting in hypoglycemia.
What You Can Do
The only way to fight the symptoms of stress is to work to address and eliminate its causes actively. Sometimes you won’t be able to do this on your own, especially in case of chronic stress. This is where therapy and counselling may help you. If the symptoms persist despite your best efforts, you should talk to your doctor to learn about your other options.
