You've likely heard the phrase "mind over matter." When it comes to thriving with diabetes, it's never been truer. Your mental state plays a significant role in your overall health, including your sleep quality, which supports balanced blood sugar levels.

Stress, Your Silent Enemy

Chronic stress is a common culprit in both sleep disturbances and blood sugar imbalances. When you're stressed, it takes longer to fall asleep. Moreover, chronic stress leads to fragmented sleep. Sleep loss triggers our bodies' stress response even more, leading to further elevations in stress hormones like cortisol, which further disrupts sleep and can elevate blood sugar levels. Additionally, stress can interfere with your sleep, creating a vicious cycle. Chronic sleep issues are associated with insomnia, sleep apnea (which affects about two-thirds of people with type 2 diabetes), decreased metabolism (making weight management nearly impossible), more challenging pain management, and heightened endocrine dysfunction. Insufficient and irregular sleep promotes glucose intolerance.

The Power of Relaxation

To break this cycle, incorporating relaxation techniques into your daily routine is crucial. Mindfulness meditation, deep breathing exercises, and yoga can help calm your mind and body, leading to better sleep and improved blood sugar control. Sourcing music and guided meditations can be particularly helpful.

Sweet Dreams for Better Blood Sugar

Quality sleep is essential for regulating blood sugar. During sleep, your body produces hormones that help balance glucose levels. Aim for 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. Creating a relaxing bedtime routine, ensuring your sleep environment is dark, quiet, and cool, and considering using sleep aids like melatonin or magnesium supplements can enhance your quality of sleep.

Remember, living with diabetes is a journey, not a destination. It's important to consider how your feelings and having diabetes can trigger emotions and lead to even more blood sugar imbalances. Our mental well-being is often overlooked in diabetes self-care, but it's a crucial aspect to address for better sleep and blood sugar control.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Ac., C.H., RDH
Dr. Holistic Studies, Dr. Acupuncture
Diabetes Wellness Strategist & Coach
Creator & CEO of Holistic Diabetes Solutions
8 X International Best-Selling Author

As a woman living with diabetes for over 30 years, Dr. Cheryl understands the journey firsthand. When she was diagnosed, she received the same outdated advice her grandmother was given for over four decades, who relied primarily on medication, suffered from deteriorating health and eventually lost her life to diabetes. Fueled by this experience, Dr. Cheryl was compelled to seek a better way. Through countless research studies and trials, she developed the winning holistic approach: the Diabetes Success System which merges traditional wisdom with today’s best holistic self-care practices.  It has revolutionized diabetes management by providing a trusted way to maintain consistent and predictable healthy blood sugar levels.  Join the thousands of people worldwide who have been empowered by Dr. Cheryl's approach and start living your healthiest life.

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PROFESSIONAL DISCLAIMER

The material and content contained in this platform is for overall general diabetes health and education information only. It is not intended to constitute medical advice or to be a substitution for professional medical recommendations, diagnosis or treatment. All specific medical questions or changes you make to your medication and/or lifestyle should be discussed and addressed with your primary healthcare provider. Having the right mindset, doing the right movements at the right times of day, and eating foods that help keep blood sugar, insulin, and inflammation manageable can dramatically reduce your risk of the all-too-common complications of Diabetes, increase your energy levels and have you feeling your best every day.