Stress and Diabetes

Since we’re coming up on the holiday season, I thought I’d remind all my fellow diabetics out there to be extra diligent about checking your blood sugar. If you’re anything like me, stress greatly affects your blood sugar.

I was reminded about that this past weekend. We had some sad family news and then I had the added stress of trying to bake, finish Christmas cards, and deal with an extra work project. In trying to “fit it all in” I found my blood sugars somewhat up and down, despite eating and working out the same.

My husband (smart guy that he is) suggested I take a rest. Ease up a bit. Change my attitude about “getting it all done” so that I could change the level of stress. When I did this, my blood sugars were much better.

This is one of the hardest things to try and make people understand about diabetes. That stress affects it. Stress can make it harder to control blood sugars.

I think sometimes when people hear that diabetics “aren’t controlling their blood sugar” that they automatically assume it’s because they aren’t exercising or eating right. But it’s so much more than that.