Stress. We all have it, but some manage it better than others. Stress management is key to laying a foundation for better health and also managing proper blood sugar control. Additionally, high levels of chronic stress can suppress your immune function, shut down your digestion, and increase blood pressure. Unfortunately, we live in a culture where the majority are addicted to busy lifestyles with little time for rest and relaxation!
Stress can range from emotional stressors to physical stressors on our body. This includes emotional stressors as trauma or stressful events that resulted in your “body keeping score” and not feeling safe (that trauma-informed book is great by the way – (Find book here!). And/or physical stressors such as food intolerances, chronic infections, dysregulated nervous system, fasting too long, or over-exercising. Time and time again, I work with clients who have diabetes or trouble losing weight, but have not addressed managing their stress as a foundational pillar of health. Stress and Sleep are important foundational topics we talk about to lay the foundation before anything else as they can be low hanging fruit before nutrition!
Today we will discuss the connection with stress and blood sugar:
Understanding the Stress-Blood Sugar Connection
When we experience stress, our body reacts by secreting cortisol, hormone that mobilizes the body’s energy and resources to go into “fight or flight” response. It is released by the adrenal glands and has numerous functions, such as energy storage, blood pressure regulation, blood sugar levels and immune system function.
Under acute stress, cortisol helps us survive by activating the sympathetic nervous system, which increases heart rate and blood pressure and diverts blood away from the digestive system and toward the muscles. It triggers the release of glucose from the liver and muscle tissue to provide instant energy! Aka Gluconeogensis. To help you run away from the tiger! If this is chronic – we have a problem. This leaves us exhausted from the whole process day after day.
Chronic high cortisol levels put us at risk. While it has many beneficial effects on the body and is essential to survival, if prolonged, leads to several health problems, including increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, insulin resistance, depression, and obesity. In my experience working with patients and myself included, not eating enough whole food carbohydrates for energy can put physical stress on the body, as it needs nourishment and creates a cascade of stress hormones resulting in blood sugar dysregulation. Everyone is different and finding the right balance with all nutrients is key to keeping your body in homeostasis.
Additionally, elevated stress has an enormous negative impact on the gut microbiome and can damage the gut lining leading to an increase in intestinal permeability or leaky gut.
Signs That Stress Is Affecting Your Blood Sugar
When in constant fight or flight mode, listening to the cues of high or low blood sugar may not be within reach for you. Or you may have adapted to living with dysregulated blood sugar. Common signs include fatigue, frequent urination, sugar cravings, irritability or disrupted sleep.
Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) are becoming very popular and very accessible, even without a doctors prescription nowadays. I am a big fan to use them from time to time, but not become too reliant on them for a bit of self efficacy over time. They are so helpful to monitor blood sugar readings at any point in the day and create awareness to help make necessary changes to your diet and lifestyle. Many of my clients notice how their blood sugar shoots up during times of stress, without even eating anything. Awareness is powerful to make informed changes going forward on how to manage the stress. There is always a root cause to metabolic dysfunction, and stress is a common one!
Domino Effect of Chronic Stress on Your Body
Stress can create a cascade of problems in your body that ultimately leads to metabolic dysfunction and poor blood sugar control. Stress can deplete nutrients, such as Vitamin B6. And because vitamin B6 helps convert the amino acid, tryptophan into serotonin, low vitamin B6 can further exacerbate mood fluctuations tied to stress. Supplementing with a B complex formula, which includes B6 vitamins, may help improve your stress response. More common nutrients depleted with stress are vitamin C and magnesium to name a few. Eat your fruits and vegetables friends! Food first, always.
Chronic Stress can also impair digestions because during fight or flight response, the digestive process slows down or even stops! The body will divert its energy to the brain and other organs that are handling the threat – digesting your food is not top priority when your body is in perceived danger! If this becomes chronic can lead to a number of gut -related chronic conditions, like dysbiois or leaky gut.
Lastly, chronic stress can reduce the immune systems ability to fight off pathogen (bacteria, protozoa, viruses) infections. Almost 70% of the immune system resides in the gut, called the Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (GALT). When compromised, so is your immune system.
Why does this have anything to do with your blood sugar? Well if you have poor digestion and not absorbing your nutrients to energize your body, then proper blood sugar control is 10x more challenging.
Practical Stress Management Tips for Blood Sugar Control
Get quality sleep
The production of cortisol in your body follows a circadian rhythm — dropping to its lowest point around midnight and peaking right before we wake up. When we’re sleep deprived, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is hyperactivated. Because the HPA axis modulates the sleep-wake cycle, an overactive HPA axis can result in fragmented sleep, a drop in overall sleep time, and decreased restorative sleep.
Also, poor sleep exacerbates stress and blood sugar imbalances throughout the day typically leading to increased caffeine and unhealthy food choices to “get through the day”. When you sleep, your body is detoxing at the cellular liver – so your brain and liver are hard at work! This is why its so important to stop eating at least 2 hours before bed, so your body has time to complete digestion.
One easy intervention to explore is incorporating a wind-down routine, like turning off your TV, computer, and phone at least an hour before you go to sleep to avoid blue light exposure. If you have trouble falling asleep, try taking a warm bath, listening to sound bowls, practicing breathework or reading a book for 15 minutes before bed.
Improve your Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Most fitness trackers are now tracking HRV, which represents the fluctuations of time (ms) in between each heartbeat. This is such a valuable tool to stay in tune with how much stress your body is under day to day. When you are relaxed, a slower HRV is more likely than when in a stressed state. The HRV reflects how adaptable your body is to stress. A low HRV is associated with many chronic illnesses, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and mental health.
A diet rich in Omega -3 fatty acids, B-vitamins, polyphenols and probotics will support a healthy HRV. This means adding in foods such as grass fed beef, olive oil, yogurt, fruits and vegetables can be very supportive! Low HRV is a result of consuming to much alcohol, saturated/trans fat and high glycemic/processed carbohydrates.They all lead to a higher heart rate and stress inthe body. Other factors include, eating to close to bedtime, illness, over-exercising and dehydration.
Improving your HRV involves exercising regularly, priortizing mental health with breathing exercises and toning your vagus nerve. This all supports regulating your blood sugar!
Regularly stimulate the Vagus Nerve
The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve that connects your brain to the rest of your body and is often called the body’s “super highway”.It is an essential part of your parasympthetic nervous system responsible for relaxing your body after a stressful period. It also controls digestion, heart rate, mood and your immune system. Overall, stress inhibits the vagus nerve. Lowering stress through effective management techniques is crucial to support this important nerve connection. By regularly activating your vagus nerve, you can train your body to relax more quickly and efficiently after a stressful event. Very much like exercising a muscle, if you don’t use it – you lose it!
Calming techniques to activate the vagus nerve include:
- Breathework (4-7-8 technique, alternate nostril breathing, box breathing)
- Meditation and Mindfullness (goal is to pay attention and be present – not “turn off your brain”)
- Yoga or Qi-gong (slow and intentional movements with breathework activates the vagus nerve)
- Dancing to Music, Listening to Soundbowls with earbuds, humming and singing (the vibration on your chest helps tone the vagus nerve)
Move your Body
There is an abundance of research demonstrating the protective effects of exercise on stress. It has been known to reduce levels of stress and lower cortisol levels, but finding balance is key. Be mindful of avoiding intense exercise daily and alternate with low impact movement, such as pilates, walking with ankle weights or a flow yoga. Avoid pushing your body past it’s limits – harder is not always better.
Movement after meals will help bring blood sugar levels down as it makes your cells more insulin sensitive to bring glucose into the cells for energy! Take a short walk outside in nature, do some squats by your desk or my fav – the 4 min HIIT workout by Dr. Zach Bush!
Stop the Daily Blood Sugar Rollercoaster Rides!
While, we can all appreciate a fun little rollercoaster ride, its not so fun with your blood sugar as it leads to fatigue and lots of irritability in most people. From a nutritional standpoint, avoiding added sugars and refined carbohydrates from ultra processed foods and replacing with whole food options rich in fiber and protein is a great place to start!
Additionally caffeine and alcohol are both stimulants and a stressors on the body. An increase can lead to more adrenaline and cortisol production, adding fuel to the fire! Drinking your morning joe with your breakfast is a great strategy if you feel you are spiking from just black coffee alone in the morning! And limiting alcoholic beverages to no more than 2 -4 glasses a week is a great happy medium.
Avoid Extending Intermittent Fasting
While some of my patients do well with intermittent fasting, it is very personalized. It can lead to dramatic fluctuations in blood sugar levels as well as increased feelings of anxiety and jitteriness. It can create a physcial stress on the body leading to blood sugar increases. A 12 hour fast is a great start for anyone, which is a fancy way of saying no snacking before bed! Eating breakfast in the morning to “break the fast” is a great way to start the day off on a great note with a source of protein, fat, fiber rich carbohydrate (veggies, beans or fruit)!
Key Takeaways
Stress management is key to laying a foundation to better health and also managing proper blood sugar control. There is a true connection between chronic stress and blood sugar, so its important to be aware of how your body responds to stress. Some practical tips to help manage stress for better blood sugar control are to support with nutrition choices, get quality sleep, improve HRV and vagal toning, move our body, and avoid prolonged intermittent fasting.
Even if you do not “feel” stressed, but you are stalled with weight loss or controlling your blood sugars, I encourage you to get honest with yourself and find small ways to prioritize stress management that are attainable for you. Get curious and see what simple strategies you can try today,
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This article is for general informational purposes only and not intended for medical intervention. Please consult with your doctor or dietitian before making any diet or lifestyle modifications.
Amy is a Functional Medicine Registered Dietitian (RDN), as well as a Nutrition & Wellness Communications Consultant with many years of marketing experience and her Master of Public Health degree (MPH). She is passionate about transforming our broken healthcare system and getting to the root cause of symptoms not putting bandaids on them.