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April 12, 2007
The Harmful Effects of Stress
Stress can interfere with your ability to make insulin and process glucose and is reported by some to increase the risk of developing diabetes. It also seems that stress decreases the ability to manage diabetes:
When you're stressed, your blood sugar levels rise. Stress hormones like epinephrine and cortisol kick in since one of their major functions is to raise blood sugar to help boost energy when it's needed most. Think of the fight-or-flight response. You can't fight danger when your blood sugar is low, so it rises to help meet the challenge. Both physical and emotional stress can prompt an increase in these hormones, resulting in an increase in blood sugars.Now scientists from Wake Forest University School of Medicine make say that findings from their study suggest that emotional stress may not only contribute to the development of cancer but may also reduce the effectiveness of cancer treatments.People who aren't diabetic have compensatory mechanisms to keep blood sugar from swinging out of control. But in people with diabetes, those mechanisms are either lacking or blunted, so they can't keep a lid on blood sugar
Posted by Diabetologica at April 12, 2007 10:03 AM