Diabetes and Stress : Coping with stress in your life

In order to deal with stress we must first figure out what it is. Stress is that feeling of tension that comes from being under physical or mental strain or pressure.

Sometimes this comes from hardships at work or just being ran down due to illness or just not feeling all that great. This is only a couple of examples of what and how stress affects our lives. Lets face it, Stress is part of life. However, people with Diabetes have another problem. Stress can cause a significant change in their blood glucose levels.

Stress causes the body to release extra glucose into the blood. This new supply of glucose is meant to boost energy to help you cope with what is going on. This is why it affects diabetics so much more, as we must regulate our glucose levels with insulin.

The stress of diabetes can cause unpredictable problems at times. Managing your diabetes usually means making major changes in your daily life, and making sure you get your medications when they are suppose to be taken. Also by adding exercise to your daily regiment truly helps with this too.

Stressful events unrelated to your diabetes may affect how you feel and how well you deal with your diabetes. Something like having a bad day at work or having a fight with someone can cause you to forget to eat or take your medicine. It is really important not to react to stress in ways that might be harmful to you, such as smoking or drinking to much to relief stress.

Another thing is that there is a relationship between diabetes and depression. Typically depression occurs more often in people with diabetes than in general. This too can cause problems with your Glucose levels, as you may be feeling “blue” or having prolonged feelings of sadness or low self-esteem, or even being discouraged by having diabetes. Sometimes counseling, especially when combined with medicine, can provide effective relief and a sense of well being in most people.

Some ways to reduce stress include but are not limited to

• Exercise
• Read a book
• Take a nap
• Watch a movie
• Visit friends
• Listen to music

These are all very good ways to help cope and deal with stress and to help to keep your glucose levels from raising higher due to stress.

Related articles

• The Importance of Home Blood Sugar Monitoring for Diabetics (brighthub.com)
• The Effects of Stress on Glucose Tolerance (brighthub.com)
• Can Stress Cause Diabetes? (brighthub.com)
• Causes of High Blood Sugar in the Morning (brighthub.com)
• Eating Plan for Glucose Intolerance (brighthub.com)
• Glucose tolerance test - All Information (umm.edu)
• Diabetic hyperglycemic hyperosmolar syndrome - All Information (umm.edu)
• Robin Wilson: Diabetes: Put Down that Cola and Pick up Celery! (huffingtonpost.com)
• Type 2 diabetes - All Information (umm.edu)
• Specific kidney cell could be key in the treatment of kidney failure in diabetes (eurekalert.org)
• A Diabetes Meme (ohmyachesandpains.info)
• 33 Percent Of American Adults Could Have Diabetes by 2050 (realestateradiousa.com)
• Why Diabetes May Triple by 2050 (health.usnews.com)

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Depression and Taking Care of Yourself

So many of you may or may not already know this about me, but I suffer from a serious case of depression, anxiety, and what we are beginning to think is bipolar.

I have struggled with this for many years now, and as I get older I find it harder and harder to deal with certain things, as well as attempting to care for myself.

I know that you only get one life and you have to make the best of it while you have it. So what I have been trying to do is to focus my depressed and anxiety energy into trying to work out, even if it is for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. This is  a lot easier said than done most times, but I find that by forcing myself to do it, even if I don’t want to, that I feel somewhat better afterwards even if I do sleep from the depression.

I hope that no matter how down you are, that you can find some way of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and make strides however small toward your goal.

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