Stress, Blood Glucose, and Diabetes

Did you know that stress alone can drive up your blood glucose? 

Let me paint a very specific picture.  I once had an early morning surgery where I didn’t respond well to the anesthesia.  By 8 o’clock at night I was still at the hospital and suffering complications from the anesthesia.  At this point I hadn’t eaten in over 24 hours.  My blood glucose was 154.  This was absolutely a fasting test.  An optimal fasting blood glucose is 80-90.  In traditional medicine, 100+ triggers further testing for Diabetes and pre-Diabetes, and they are usually substantiated.  I didn’t have either.  So, what was going on?  Let me explain. 

Imagine running from a tiger, or in my case a couple of years ago, a mountain lion.  Your body is going to dump glucose into the blood.  It wants immediate access to energy for emergency activity, such as running.  This was designed to be short-term for survival.  While this is not common in today’s world, what IS common is constant, chronic, low-grade stress.  Unfortunately, the body sees these two things as the same, and in both situations, regardless of diet and demand, will increase blood sugar and insulin. 

You could eat an impeccable diet and have perfect genes.  But if you are under chronic stress, you are at risk of elevated blood glucose and insulin, and therefore of developing Diabetes.  PERIOD.  Stress comes in all different types:  physical, mental, emotional, and physiological.  Your body treats them the same. 

Chronic stress can not only raise blood sugar and insulin, but can:  deplete your body of nutrients, impair digestion (can decrease stomach acid a bile by up to 40%), impair immune function, impair detoxification, use up electrolytes, contribute to constipation, decrease active thyroid hormone, affect sex hormones, and impair mitochondria (leading to decreased energy).  Whew!  That’s quite a list!

Stress isn’t just something to barrel your way through.  We are not designed to constantly tolerate stress.  Health and vitality require that we identify our sources of stress and continuously mitigate them.  Our life literally depends upon it.  At the root of all dis-ease are crap foods, toxins, and STRESS. 

Let’s lock arms, identify YOUR sources of stress, and then develop a plan to alleviate them.