Consultancy Corner: ‘Stress can aggravate your blood sugar levels’

Mrs. S, a 52-year-old lady of average weight and well controlled diabetes believed in regular follow up to manage her diabetes. However, recently her blood sugar level spiked abnormally, ie., over 500 mg/dl. Despite our best efforts, it did not come down from the 350 mg/dl mark. On further evaluation, we found that she has been quite stressed lately. It took several visits to the counsellor to get her life and diabetes back on track. Stress can aggravate your blood sugar levels.

Stress can be defined as “a physical, chemical or emotional factor that causes physical or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation”. Several diseases can be caused or worsened by stress and diabetes is definitely one of those conditions which can be produced or aggravated by stress.

Blood glucose levels are controlled mainly by two groups of hormones. The first group reduces blood sugar, but insulin is the only member of this group. The second group called ‘counter-regulatory hormones’, opposes the action of insulin and thus increases the blood sugars. There are several of these hormones including cortisol, adrenaline, noradrenaline, glucagon and growth hormone. Stress tends to increase the levels of these counter-regulatory hormones. If the levels of these hormones remain persistently elevated, this can precipitate diabetes in a predisposed individual or worsen the diabetes control in someone who already has the disorder.

Very often, individuals do not realize that they are under stress or they tend to deny it. The first step in stress management is therefore to make the individual understand that everyone in the world is exposed to some stress or the other at some time in their lives.

In fact, experts believe a mild degree of stress may actually be good for us as it raises our level of performance. However, one should also be alert to the signs and symptoms of excess stress, as they may be quite subtle and yet can be serious and often become extremely dangerous.

A healthy social life is vital in reducing stress levels. It helps reduce the risk of developing diabetes and helps people with diabetes take control of their condition. It is particularly important that a person with diabetes learns how to manage stress, since stress can play havoc with the management of diabetes.

We have seen many patients who were able to reduce their dose of drugs and some who were able to completely stop all anti-diabetic medications, once they dealt with their stress.