What Affects Your Blood Sugar Level?

It’s important to find a diabetic educator when you have diabetes because most people will fail to control the disease without one. Checking blood sugar, exercising, and eating right are all ways of life for a person diagnosed with diabetes. And knowing your blood sugar allows you to determine how much of those things you should be doing and adjust your current regimen to be more efficient — making you healthier in the long-term.

But there are a number of factors that affect diabetes — and you might not even know about some of them!

For example, when you’re sick. An illness could cause your body to flood with hormones that increase your blood sugar. That means you can eat right and still have a problem. The exact same thing can occur if you’re stressed. Death in the family? Divorce? New child? You might expect some variations in blood sugar that have nothing to do with your overall health. But because failing to maintain diabetes can be stressful all by itself, this can create a cyclical effect that’s hard to overcome. 

You want to do your best to avoid these hormones flooding your body, and part of that equation is getting enough sleep every night — because sleep helps regulate and maintain proper hormone levels throughout your body. Not getting enough sleep? Your blood sugar might go up. When you wake up, you might consider avoiding the cup of java — because some individuals experience high blood sugar soon after consuming caffeine. 

The “dawn phenomenon” means that your blood sugar is higher than expected even after a night time of fasting. This is because your body doesn’t release the insulin it needs while you’re sleeping. If you experience the dawn phenomenon, consult your doctor!

When taking insulin, these three factors play a key role in its effectiveness: timing, dosing, and expiration date. Insulin not working as expected? Ask your doctor why.