6 Surprising Things that Cause Blood Sugar Swings

People living with type 2 diabetes know how unstable blood sugar levels can be.

Your blood sugar levels can bounce like a yoyo. Rapidly rising levels can cause nausea, vomiting, or shortness of breath. When they drastically drop, it may cause confusion, dizziness, blurred vision, seizures, unconsciousness, or even death.

If you want to keep your blood sugar levels stable, you can stick to a diabetes-friendly diet, exercise regularly and eliminate bad habits like smoking and sitting still for too long. There are, however, some unusual factors that also cause your blood sugar levels to swing.

Watch out for the following surprising things:

Dehydration

Dehydration and diabetes go hand in hand. If you don’t have enough fluids in your body, your blood will become more concentrated – pushing up your blood glucose levels. High blood sugar levels can also cause you to urinate more frequently, resulting in more dehydration.

If you have diabetes, you should drink about 1.6 litters (L) or 6.5 cups of water per day for women; and 2 L or 8.5 glasses per day for men. You can put cucumber slices, citrus wedges, or a squeeze of fresh lime juice in your water for added flavour. Other drinks like caffeine-free herbal teas, skim milk, and sugar-free coffee can also keep you hydrated without rising your blood sugar.

Certain medications

Steroids (used to treat inflammatory conditions, autoimmune disorders, and asthma) are notorious for causing blood sugar levels to shoot up. Other medications like birth control pills, certain antidepressants and antipsychotics, some diuretics, and nasal decongestants can also cause your blood sugar levels to rise. There are other medications that also meddle with your blood sugar and can cause lower readings.

Before taking new medications, whether it is prescription meds or not, make sure your doctor and pharmacist know about your diabetes. Ask them if your new medication will interfere with your diabetes management.

Illness and infections

Colds, the flu, or infections can jolt your blood sugar to dangerously high levels.

Hormones that fight illness will cause more glucose to be released into your bloodstream in order to fight the illness or infection.

Illnesses, like diarrhoea can cause a drop in your blood sugar levels as you are not absorbing the nutrients you need.

Try your best to protect yourself against illnesses by taking supplements to boost your immune system. You can also get a flu shot. If you do get sick, drink plenty of fluids, check your blood sugar levels regularly and eat healthful meals and snacks.

Caffeine

According to Mayo Clinic, it is safe to consume up to 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine per day. However, caffeine might interfere with insulin’s tasks. It is the hormone, insulin, that transports glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells. Because of caffeine interference, blood sugar levels might rise.

Researchers, however, are in two camps about the effect of caffeine. A study published in 2015 in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, stated that caffeine might actually help manage diabetes.

Even though the research is not unanimous; you can monitor the effect that caffeine has on your blood sugar levels. If you do drink lots of caffeinated drinks and you struggle to keep your blood sugar levels stable, try minimizing your intake of caffeine and see if you are able to level out your blood sugar.

The dawn phenomenon

When you’re asleep your body does not need as much energy but when it readies itself to wake up it will release more glucose. Your liver naturally releases stored glucose between 2 am and 8 am. This should trigger the release of insulin so that the glucose can be transported to the cells.

People with diabetes do not make enough insulin or are insulin resistant. This causes glucose to build up in the bloodstream in the early hours of the morning and so, people with diabetes will have high blood sugar levels in the morning.

To minimise the effect of the dawn phenomenon, avoid eating sugary and carb-filled snacks before bedtime as this will raise your blood sugar levels. You can also talk to your doctor to find the right time to take your diabetes medication or insulin so that you can mitigate high blood sugar levels in the morning.

Women’s menstruation cycles

Hormonal changes that happen right before a woman’s period, can cause a rise in blood sugar levels.

If you notice that your blood sugar levels are consistently high a week before your period, you can lower your levels by eating the right foods. Stay away from carb-rich and sugar-loaded foods. You can also try to do some exercise to keep your blood sugar levels stable. If you are taking diabetes medication or insulin, talk to your doctor about adjusting your medication for the week prior to your period.

Takeaway

There are many factors that cause fluctuations in blood glucose levels. Some factors like eating crab-rich and sugar-stuffed foods are well known but you should also watch out for less common factors like dehydration, the dawn phenomenon, taking steroids or birth control pills, and menstruation cycles.

What is Manna Blood Sugar Support?

Manna’s Blood Sugar Support is an all-natural health supplement for managing blood sugar levels, made from the pods of the Prosopis (Mesquite) tree, and it does not have any negative side effects like many chemical alternatives have. Helps manage type 2 diabetes, control cravings and insulin resistance.

How Does Manna Blood Sugar Support Work?

This supplement is an organic and natural way to help balance blood sugar levels. It does this by “gelling” with the food we eat and then slow-releasing the sugar from these foods into our bloodstream. That is why you must always take it with food, otherwise, you are missing out on the amazing benefits of Manna Blood Sugar Support and it will not work as it should.

This means that it helps prevent the blood sugar levels from soaring through the roof after you have eaten something, and then also obviously helps avoid the subsequent sugar crash.

This helps your body to avoid the need for the pick-me-up from a sugary snack that we know as a craving. If you can stabilize your blood sugar levels and control cravings, it makes losing weight a whole lot easier.

When taken with food, Manna Blood Sugar Support gels with the food in the stomach to reduce the glycemic index of the food and drink you consume by up to 43%. It, therefore, helps to prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high.

What are the benefits of Manna Blood Sugar Support?

Helps to maintain balanced blood sugar levels.
Keep you more satisfied after a meal, which means that the same meal can take you much further and cause you to eat less, which can help with natural weight loss.
Helps to control cravings.
Helps to keeps energy levels constant.

Balanced blood sugar levels can help to prevent diabetic health complications.