Can Low Blood Sugar Keep You Awake At Night
Is there a way to make sugar in your blood so that you will feel sleepy? Low blood sugar during the night can make it difficult for you to fall asleep and wake up at night due to nighttime hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia can cause headaches, dizziness, and other symptoms in some people. You may be able to reduce your basal insulin dose following exercise if you have these symptoms, in addition to reducing your predinner or evening/bedtime insulin doses. If you have frequent nighttime hypoglycemia, you may need to adjust your insulin dose. Pressure-induced sensor errors, REM sleep, and meal and alcohol timing all contribute to low blood sugar levels during sleep.
Eating The Right Foods For You
When it comes to avoiding big blood sugar spikes and dips, there are some general guidelines you can follow.
However, to make sure youre eating the best foods for you, its important to understand your bodys unique metabolism. And your blood sugar levels are not the only thing involved in shaping it.
Your gut microbiome is the name for the trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in your gut. It plays an important part in your overall health and how your body responds to food.
When the bad bugs in your gut microbiome outnumber the good, it can have a negative effect on how your body manages energy.
At ZOE, we run the largest study of nutrition and the gut microbiome in the world, with over 15,000 participants so far. Our data show that theres no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition and that everyone responds differently to foods.
ZOEs at-home test helps you to understand your bodys responses to different foods by analyzing your blood sugar, blood fat, and your gut microbiome.
Based on your results, we give you personalized recommendations of the best foods for you.
Our unpublished research found that 82% of people who closely followed their personalized ZOE nutrition program said they had more energy.
Eating Commercial Baked Goods Is Linked With Depression
Muffins, croissants, pastries, and other commercially prepared baked goods may taste good, but they may also trigger depression. Spanish researchers found that individuals who ate the most baked goods had a 38 percent higher risk of depression than individuals who ate the least number of baked goods. The researchers suggested the intake of trans fats may play a role. This type of unhealthy fat leads to inflammation and increases your risk for cardiovascular disease and heart attack. Its commonly found in commercial baked goods.
Trans fats were banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration . American food manufacturers have until mid-2018 to remove all trans fats from their foods.
You can read food labels to find out if the food youre eating contains trans fats. You can also focus your diet on whole foods that do not contain artificial ingredients like trans fats.
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Does Low Blood Sugar Make You Sleepy
Low blood sugar can cause fatigue, though other potential symptoms include hunger, trembling or shakiness, sweating, or even confusion and difficulty concentrating. The fatigue can linger even after a person with diabetes has been treated for low blood sugar. Sleepers may also wake up in the middle of the night if they have low blood sugar.
How To Keep Sugar From Ruining Your Sleep
Are some sugars betteror at least less bad than others? Can you pair sugar with another type of food to offset its negative effects on sleep? Are there alternatives to sugar and sugar-sweetened junk foods that will satisfy your sweet tooth without ruining your sleep?
Heres what top nutritionists had to say about mitigating the negative effects of sugar on sleep:
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How Can I Prevent My Blood Sugar From Falling Down At Night
If your blood sugar levels are low before bedtime, you should snack on a healthy meal before you go to sleep. The size of the snack should be determined by the percentage of blood sugar dip in the food. When blood sugar levels fall, it only takes a small snack to help them return to normal. If you use an insulin pump, you may want to reduce the active dose of insulin temporarily.
What Causes Low Blood Glucose In People With Diabetes
Low blood glucose levels can be a side effect of insulin or some other medicines that help your pancreas release insulin into your blood. Taking these can lower your blood glucose level.
Two types of diabetes pills can cause low blood glucose
- sulfonylureas, usually taken once or twice per day, which increase insulin over several hours
- meglitinides, taken before meals to promote a short-term increase in insulin
The following may also lower your blood glucose level
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An Ounce Of Prevention
As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It is best to follow a diet that will prevent your blood sugar levels from dropping in the afternoon, rather than trying to correct blood sugar levels once they are low. Dr. Alicia Stanton, an expert on women’s health, recommends eating small meals every 2 to 3 hours. These meals should consist of a lean protein, such as chicken, turkey or fish, and a complex carbohydrate, such as vegetables, fruits, quinoa, beans or legumes. Start your day with a high-fiber breakfast, like oatmeal, every day.
Why Am I Having Lows
If you are experiencing low blood glucose and youre not sure why, bring a record of blood glucose, insulin, exercise, and food data to a health care provider. Together, you can review all your data to figure out the cause of the lows.
The more information you can give your health care provider, the better they can work with you to understand what’s causing the lows. Your provider may be able to help prevent low blood glucose by adjusting the timing of insulin dosing, exercise, and meals or snacks. Changing insulin doses or the types of food you eat may also do the trick.
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When To Speak To Your Healthcare Team About Fatigue
If you are experiencing regular fatigue you should speak to your healthcare team. They may want to look at your medications and they will usually have some tips on how to cope.
The team will also be able to offer medical advice on whether the extreme tiredness is a sign of something more serious, such as diabetes complications.
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What Causes Fatigue In Diabetes
Why does too much sugar make you tired? With diabetes, tiredness can result as a result of several factors such as:
- Can insulin resistance cause fatigue? High levels of glucose in the blood, either due to a lack of insulin or due to insulin resistance, can have an effect on the bodys capacity to get sugar from the blood into body cells to meet a persons energy requirements.
- Individuals who are on stronger anti-diabetics including insulin might also experience tiredness as a sign of low blood sugar levels.
- Blood sugar testing is a great way to determine whether high or low glucose levels can be the reason behind fatigue.
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Day Time Tiredness And After Meal Lethargy
Feeling tired through the day, particularly during the morning and after meals is often a result of high blood sugar levels.
If you notice you are becoming tired during the day, test your blood sugar levels to see whether there is a correlation between the blood sugar numbers you are getting and the feelings of tiredness. Note down the numbers and how you felt.
If you are taking insulin or are at risk of hypoglycemia, tiredness or lethargy could be a result of low blood sugar, so it is recommended to test blood glucose for this reason too.
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How To Treat Someone Who’s Unconscious Or Very Sleepy
Follow these steps:
They may need to go to hospital if they’re being sick , or their blood sugar level drops again.
Tell your diabetes care team if you ever have a severe hypo that caused you to lose consciousness.
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Whats The Link Between Diabetes And Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia is most common, by far, in people with diabetes. Treatment for the diseaseoften involves taking medication to increase insulin. Hypoglycemia can develop if things like food, exercise and diabetes medications are out of balance.
Common pitfalls for people with diabetes include:
- Being more active than usual.
- Drinking alcohol without eating.
- Eating late or skipping meals.
- Not balancing meals by including fat, protein and fiber.
- Not eating enough carbohydrates.
- Not timing insulin and carb intake correctly .
Also, if someone with diabetes uses the wrong insulin, takes too much or injects it incorrectly, that can cause hypoglycemia.
How To Treat Someone Whos Having A Seizure Or Fit
Follow these steps if someone has a seizure or fit caused by a low blood sugar level:
Tell your diabetes care team if you ever have a severe hypo that caused you to have a seizure or fit.
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Treating Someone Having A Seizure
Follow these steps if someone has a seizure due to low blood sugar:
Tell your diabetes care team if you ever have a severe hypo that caused you to have a seizure.
Changes In Blood Sugar Levels
Diabetes affects the way the body regulates and uses blood sugar.
When a person eats, the body breaks down food into simple sugars, or glucose. Cells use insulin to absorb glucose from the blood and can then use this for energy.
In people with diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or the body does not use insulin effectively. This causes excess glucose in the blood.
Fatigue and weakness may result when the cells do not get enough glucose. Diabetes medications, such as insulin or metformin, help more of this sugar to move into the cells and prevent it from building to harmful levels in the blood.
A potential side effect of diabetes medications is low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia.
Low blood sugar can also cause fatigue, especially in people who have frequent episodes and do not get enough warning that their blood sugar levels are dropping. A person can still feel fatigued even after treatment for low blood sugar.
While not all of those symptoms account for feelings of fatigue directly, many of them may contribute to an overall feeling of being unwell. These persistent and uncomfortable sensations can have severe mental and physical effects that may lead to the development of fatigue.
Some of the symptoms of diabetes may also disrupt a persons sleep pattern. For example, a person with the condition can wake up several times every night to use the bathroom or get a drink. People with type 2 diabetes have a of developing a sleep disorder.
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When To Call The Doctor
If signs of low blood sugar do not improve after you have eaten a snack that contains sugar, have someone drive you to the emergency room or call 911 or the local emergency number. Do not drive when your blood sugar is low.
Get medical help right away for a person with low blood sugar if the person is not alert or cannot be woken up as this is a medical emergency.
Can Blood Sugar Issues Cause Insomnia
Diabetes is thought to affect one in every two people with the disease6,6 and sleep problems are frequently caused by unstable blood sugar levels and accompanying diabetes-related symptoms,7 such as high blood sugar and low blood sugar during the night
In the United States, over 13% of those aged 15 to 69 have diabetes, while 23% of those aged 20 to 25 are unaware of their condition. It is possible to increase insulin resistance and to increase blood sugar levels too much over time, both of which increase the risk of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Diabetic peripheral nerves, in addition to diabetes nerve damage, affect the feet, legs, hands, and arms. Sleep apnea is characterized by rapid breathing and stops of breathing during the night as a result of an ongoing collapse of the upper airway. Insomnia is the fourth leading cause of death, accounting for approximately 4% of all deaths. Diabetes patients have a greater risk of having sleep problems. As a result of diabetes-related conditions such as peripheral nervous system disorders , these conditions can cause issues.
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The Dangers Of Low Blood Glucose
At some time, most people with diabetes experience the sweating and shakiness that occurs when blood glucose levels fall below 70 mg/dl a condition known as hypoglycemia. The average person with type 1 diabetes may experience symptoms of low blood glucose up to two times a week. However, not all are aware that these symptoms can rapidly progress to seizures, coma and even death if hypoglycemia is severe. Though hypoglycemia can be common and occur repeatedly in some people with diabetes, symptoms of low blood glucose should always be taken seriously. People with diabetes and their families, friends or coworkers should be prepared to act quickly and responsibly at the earliest signs of low blood glucose.
What Are The Complications Of Low Blood Glucose
Mild-to-moderate low blood glucose can be easily treated. But severely low blood glucose can cause serious complications, including passing out, coma, or death.
Repeated episodes of low blood glucose can lead to
- high blood glucose levels, if worry or fear of low blood glucose keeps you from taking the medicines you need to manage your diabetes8
- hypoglycemia unawareness, a condition in which you dont notice any symptoms of low blood glucose until your blood glucose level has dropped very low
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How Do I Treat Low Blood Glucose
If you begin to feel one or more symptoms of low blood glucose, check your blood glucose level. If your blood glucose level is below your target or less than 70 mg/dL, follow these steps
How Does Blood Glucose Affect Sleep
Just as sleep affects blood sugar levels, blood sugar levels may also impact sleep quality. A study of people with type 2 diabetes found that those with higher blood sugar levels experience poorer sleep. Another study found that 62% of people with glucose levels in the pre-diabetes range are likely to have poor sleep, compared to 46% of people with normal glucose levels.
Researchers arent certain why increased blood sugar may be associated with poor sleep and more study is necessary to understand the relationship.
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Is Stress Messing With Your Blood Sugar
Stress may raise glucose levels in your blood, leading to hyperglycemia and even diabetes. Learn how to control your condition.
Researchers have linked dozens of physical symptoms to stress overload, from fatigue to weight gain. You can add another symptom to that list: high blood sugar.
When youre stressed, your body is primed to take action. This gearing up is what causes your heart to beat faster, your breath to quicken, and your stomach to knot. It also triggers your blood glucose levels to skyrocket. Under stress, your body goes into fight-or-flight mode, raising blood sugar levels to prepare you for action, says Richard Surwit, PhD, author of The Mind-Body Diabetes Revolution and chief of medical psychology at Duke University in Durham, NC. If your cells are insulin resistant, the sugar builds up in your blood, with nowhere to go, leading to hyperglycemia.
We have no shortage of short-term stress in our livesfrom traffic jams to working long hours at a demanding joband our stress hormones, which were designed to deal with short-term dangers like fleeing predators, are turned on for long periods of time, even though were neither fighting nor fleeing. What were doing is stewing, which can cause chronically high blood sugar.
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No matter how busy you are, you can find ways to restespecially if you have diabetes. Heres how: