Stress reduction is not easy in today’s fast-paced world, but it can have a profound impact on your health, writes Dr CHARLOTTE ROWLEY  

When I talk to people on the Diabetes WA helpline, we spend a lot of time on the importance of a healthy diet and regular exercise. But there’s another lifestyle aspect that sometimes gets overlooked: stress.

Stress is not inherently negative – it also keeps us alert and helps us to avoid danger (think – running away from a lion back when that was a thing). To give us the pep we needed to outrun threats to our survival, stress changes the function of many systems in the body, including raising our glucose levels.

In the short term, this might not be an issue but chronic stress (which a lot of us experience today thanks to our fast-paced lifestyle), can sometimes mean our glucose is elevated when it doesn’t need to be. This increases insulin resistance and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

For people living with diabetes, stress can cause your blood glucose levels to sit higher than usual and be more difficult to manage.

Let’s take a deeper look at what’s going on.

When we are stressed, the body releases many molecules that act like messengers, including glucocorticoids and catecholamines. Glucocorticoids stimulate the release of glucose from body stores and, at the same time, decrease the ability of muscles to take up glucose, meaning there is more glucose hanging around in your blood.

In people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, corticosteroids restrict the pancreas’ ability to produce and secrete insulin. These aren’t the only molecules at play; in fact, a range of molecules are released in response to chronic stress, and unfortunately all of them contribute to increased insulin resistance and higher blood glucose levels.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, we also see a loss of muscle mass and an increase in fat stored around the middle when we are chronically stressed, which independently increase insulin resistance and blood glucose levels.

So, why would our body do this to us?

Well, in the short term, this is actually an advantage. Extra glucose in the blood ensures the brain has a constant flow of glucose and can provide extra energy to the immune system during a short period of stress. So if you needed to run away from a lion, this extra glucose would be incredibly helpful, and your body would rely on non-insulin dependent pathways to take up that glucose for energy.

The problem is that modern life is so fast paced that, without even realising it, we can feel like we are under threat most of the time, which means our body spends too much time in ‘survival mode.’ Remember, our bodies are not designed to be stuck in traffic two hours per day, sleep deprived and stressed about work, the kids and the mortgage.  A side effect of this chronic stress is insulin resistance and increased blood glucose levels.

What can we do about chronic stress?

If you can remove the source of your chronic stress, great. But that isn’t always possible. What is possible is managing your stress levels so you can get your body out of fight-and-flight mode unless it’s an emergency.

There are many ways to do this. Firstly, get moving. Exercise uses non-insulin dependent pathways to get the glucose into your muscles, as well as being great for your mental health.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to start training like you are running away from a lion for this to have an effect. Even a 30-minute walk around your neighbourhood can do the trick. The general guide is to exercise for 30 minutes per day at a pace that gets you a bit huffy and puffy. If you can do some strength-based exercise twice per week (think weights, body weight, or bands) you’re going the extra mile (pardon my pun).

Along with exercise, breathing exercises, meditation and yoga can all help to reduce stress in the body, while therapy can help you develop healthy coping strategies to reduce the impact of stressful events. Even just talking to a friend or family member about how you are feeling can make a big difference.

So, if you think stress could be having an impact on your diabetes management, what steps can you take today to reduce your stress levels and improve your blood glucose levels?

References
Stress-Induced Diabetes: A Review – PMC