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Have you noticed that your blood glucose (sugar) is harder to control when life feels overwhelming? Maybe you’ve noticed that your glucose levels are higher when you’re nearing an important work deadline or going through a period of depression. You’re not imagining things — stress can affect blood sugar in diabetes.
People on DiabetesTeam often mention that stress raises their resting blood sugar levels. “Too much on my mind. Blood sugar is through the roof. I know it’s caused by stress and trying to get a grip on it,” said a DiabetesTeam member.
Stress is an unavoidable part of life, but understanding how it affects your body can help you take steps to keep your blood sugar more stable, even during challenging times. In this article, we’ll look at how stress can cause blood sugar spikes and how you can help reduce its impact on your diabetes.
When you’re stressed, your adrenal glands — small organs above your kidneys — release a steroid hormone called cortisol. Cortisol helps your body handle stress, but it also has other important jobs, such as:
Normally, cortisol levels rise and fall throughout the day. But during times of high stress, your cortisol levels can stay consistently high. Cortisol levels that are too high — or too low — can both cause problems for your health.
High cortisol makes diabetes harder to manage. One study found that about 24 percent of people with type 2 diabetes that was difficult to control — even with treatment — had hypercortisolism (high cortisol).
Both physical stress (such as injuries, infections, or intense exercise) and psychological stress (such as grief or feeling overwhelmed) raise cortisol levels. During periods of stress, cortisol levels can increase two to five times. Light or moderate exercise, like walking, usually lowers both blood sugar and cortisol levels.
This article focuses on the effects of psychological stress and why it’s important to find ways to reduce stress to avoid spikes in both cortisol and blood sugar.
Over time, high levels of cortisol can change how you look, feel, and function. High cortisol can lead to high blood sugar, but high blood sugar is just one of several effects of stress on the body.
Other possible signs of hypercortisolism include:
High cortisol can raise your blood sugar levels because of how the hormone affects the pancreas. When stress is high, cortisol tells your pancreas to release less insulin. With less insulin available, more glucose stays in your bloodstream.
Cortisol also triggers your pancreas to release more glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar. Glucose is released from your liver as a stress response, too. This gives your body a quick energy boost to help you respond to stress or danger in a fight-or-flight situation. While this can be useful in the short term, chronic (long-term) stress can make blood sugar much harder to manage in the long term. This is how stress causes blood sugar spikes in people with diabetes.
Long-term stress and the resulting high cortisol may contribute to developing diabetes in people who didn’t have it before. That’s because hypercortisolism not only raises your blood sugar but can also block the effects of insulin, leading to insulin resistance over time.
Insulin resistance — when your body can’t properly use insulin to convert glucose into energy — is the main cause of type 2 diabetes. Still, type 2 diabetes is complex. Stress alone usually won’t trigger the condition without other risk factors, such as:
Diabetes and stress can affect each other. Both being diagnosed with diabetes and the daily work of managing diabetes can be major sources of stress. This is another reason why learning healthy ways to cope with stress is so important when you have diabetes.
Stress can make it harder to stick to your diabetes management plan.
This is because stress can lead to habits that raise blood sugar, such as a sedentary lifestyle, weight gain, and unhealthy eating patterns. You might also eat more, drink alcohol, or avoid exercise as a way of coping. Over time, these habits, along with high cortisol, can contribute to spikes in your blood sugar.
Healthy coping strategies can help you lower stress, which reduces your cortisol and helps stabilize your blood sugar. Finding ways to regulate your emotions when you’re under pressure, may even help prevent insulin resistance and diabetes complications linked to high cortisol.
Relaxation techniques like mindfulness, deep breathing, and meditation can go a long way in reducing your cortisol when you’re stressed. A large review of studies found that mindfulness and meditation significantly reduced cortisol levels.
Members of DiabetesTeam have had some success using relaxation techniques to lower stress. One member wrote, “I recently started a mindfulness-based stress-reduction class, which I believe is slowly helping me. My goal is to deal with stress better behaviorally and not eat impulsively, which gets me into trouble with my diabetes.”
Regular physical activity can be a powerful tool for managing stress and supporting overall health. While certain types of intense exercise may temporarily raise cortisol, consistent movement over time is linked to lower baseline cortisol levels, high quality sleep, and a healthier metabolism.
If you’re feeling stressed, consider going for a brisk walk, stretching, or dancing to your favorite music. Even a short burst of movement can help lower cortisol levels in the moment.
Before starting a new exercise routine — especially if you live with a chronic condition like diabetes or have been inactive — talk with your doctor or another qualified healthcare provider. They can help you choose activities that are safe and effective based on your health status, medications, and goals.
Professional mental health care, like talk therapy or a support group, can guide you through challenging times in life and help you learn coping skills to lower stress. Even talking with friends or family might ease some of your stress.
Although stress isn’t always something you can laugh about, finding moments of humor may still help. Research shows that a laugh session can lower your cortisol by over 30 percent. Laughter may have some metabolic benefits for people with diabetes, too . In one study, laughter lowered postprandial blood sugar (blood sugar taken after a meal) in people with diabetes who weren’t taking insulin.
When you don’t get enough sleep, your stress levels and cortisol can increase. To regulate your cortisol and avoid stress-related blood sugar spikes, keep a regular sleep schedule and avoid staying up too late when possible.
Sleep requirements vary from person to person, but most adults should aim for at least seven hours of restful sleep per night. Not getting enough sleep can contribute to high cortisol, diabetes, and other health concerns.
If you have trouble sleeping, keeping a consistent schedule and getting more physical activity during the day can help you sleep better at night.
If you’re concerned about the stress in your life and how it impacts your diabetes, talk to your healthcare provider. Let them know if you notice any signs of hypercortisolism or if your blood sugar spikes when you’re stressed.
Your healthcare team can help you manage stress, stay on track with your diabetes plan, and find self-care strategies that regulate cortisol and stabilize your blood sugar.
On DiabetesTeam, people share their experiences with diabetes, get advice, and find support from others who understand.
Have you used stress management techniques to regulate your blood sugar? Let others know in the comments below.
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