Mental Health & Diabetes – How Your Moods Affect Your Sugar Levels

Posted on: Feb 22, 2024 | 3 mins | Written by: HDFC ERGO Team

Mental Health & Diabetes – How Your Moods Affect Your Sugar Levels

Did you know that diabetes not only affects your physical health but your mental well-being as well? Diabetes is a lifestyle disease that happens due to a lack of insulin in the body. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas. However, in people with diabetes, the pancreas does not produce adequate insulin, thereby leading to high blood sugar levels. The condition can also happen due to insulin resistance in the body.

Diabetes is a serious condition that can harm the eyes, kidneys, heart, blood vessels, nerves and other organs. Moreover, it can also affect your mood and mental health and promote feelings of sadness, stress, anxiety, aggression and irritability. Since diabetes can lead to different health conditions, so if you are living with the condition, it is wise to keep diabetes insurance handy for those uncertain times. This health plan covers a range of expenses, including doctor’s consultation bills, medicines and insulin shots, diabetes-related hospitalisation expenses, and more. Let’s talk about mental health and diabetes in detail.

The intersection of mental health and diabetes

Studies have shown that diabetes can affect your mental health and lead to stress, anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. Frequent mood disturbances can also have a negative impact on your quality of life. Although managing mental health conditions can be challenging, taking the prescribed medication and adhering to a diabetic-friendly lifestyle can make a huge difference.

Importance of addressing mood and blood sugar

Individuals with diabetes can experience frequent changes in their mood, and this can make things difficult for them and their loved ones. Moreover, if left untreated or unaddressed, these mood swings can increase the risk of developing depression. Therefore, if you are a diabetic, it is important to address the condition at the earliest to prevent associated health issues.

Connection between mood and blood sugar

High or low blood sugar levels can lead to frequent mood swings. People with high blood sugar levels often feel angry, tense, sad, nervous, and tired. On the other hand, low blood sugar levels can cause confusion, irritability, nervousness, and tiredness in many. Since high and low blood sugar levels can affect your mental and physical well-being, it is important to monitor the readings frequently. In case you notice fluctuations throughout the day, consult your doctor without delay.

Stress and its impact on blood sugar

Stress can have a negative impact on your blood sugar levels. Excessive stress can cause insulin resistance in the body and increase glucose levels in the blood, thus leading to diabetes. Stress can also lead to chronic hyperglycaemia or elevated blood sugar levels for a long period. Chronic hyperglycaemia is a severe condition that can affect different organs in the body, such as the kidneys, eyes, heart, and nerves, over time.

Emotional states and glucose levels

Studies have shown that emotional states and blood glucose levels are interconnected. Frequent mood swings or feelings of anger, depression, stress, anxiety and sadness can fluctuate your blood glucose levels and increase the risk of diabetes and associated health complications. On the other hand, unstable blood glucose levels, both high and low blood sugar, can affect your emotional well-being and make you feel stressed, agitated, irritable, anxious and depressed.

Role of hormones in blood sugar regulation

Stress and anxiety trigger the release of stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, in the body. While these hormones help your body respond to stress, they cause insulin resistance at the same time. Therefore, if you are stressed out for long, your body is unable to process the insulin made by the pancreas. This increases insulin levels in the blood over time and leads to diabetes.

Stress and diabetes

High levels of mental stress can hinder the effective functioning of the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. This prevents them from making adequate amounts of insulin in the body, thus increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes. Moreover, stress promotes the release of stress hormones in the body. These hormones cause insulin resistance and contribute to increased blood sugar levels.

Understanding stress response

When you are stressed out, a series of psychological and physiological changes happen in the body. These include rapid breathing, changes in blood pressure, cold sweats, trembling, dilated pupils, poor digestion, flushing of skin, etc. This is how your body’s stress response works.

Although the work of your body’s stress response is to boost your energy levels and help you deal with stressful situations, chronic stress can lead to anxiety, depression, metabolic disorders, heart conditions, headaches, gastrointestinal conditions and more. It can also increase your blood glucose levels and increase the risk of diabetes.

Stress-related hyperglycaemia

This is a condition that happens to people without existing diabetes. When a non-diabetic has high blood sugar levels of over 180mg/dL, it is termed stress-related hyperglycaemia. The condition causes a short-term rise in blood glucose levels. Stress-related hyperglycaemia usually happens due to physical stress, psychological stress, and illness.

Chronic stress and diabetes risk

According to experts, chronic stress can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. When stressed out for long, your adrenal glands release high amounts of stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, into the bloodstream. High levels of these stress hormones can prevent the efficient functioning of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, thus leading to type 2 diabetes.

Anxiety and blood sugar

Research has shown that there is a strong connection between anxiety and diabetes. However, stress and anxiety can affect people differently. While some may notice a spike in their blood glucose levels, for others, the blood sugar levels drop below the normal range of 70mg/dL and 100mg/dL.

Effects of anxiety on insulin sensitivity

Anxiety can lower your insulin sensitivity and make you prone to diabetes. Low insulin sensitivity is also referred to as insulin resistance. If you have low insulin sensitivity, the cells of your body will not be able to use the available insulin effectively. This causes blood glucose levels to rise over time. In this case, you will have to take the prescribed medication or insulin injections to manage your blood glucose levels.

Conclusion

To sum up, there is a strong connection between mental health and diabetes. Mental health issues are common among diabetics, so anyone with diabetes may experience stress, anxiety and frequent mood swings. Also, chronic stress and anxiety can increase the risk of diabetes in many. Diabetes is a severe condition, and constantly high glucose levels can harm different organs in your body over time. Therefore, it is important to address the condition at the earliest and consult a doctor for the right medication and care. Also, keep a diabetes insurance policy handy for those uncertain times. This health insurance policy will cover your diabetes-related expenses and prevent financial setbacks.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purposes only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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