People with diabetes can reduce stress and reduce blood sugar!

Cortisol is known as the human stress hormone. Anxiety and anger can lead to elevated cortisol levels.

A recent study published in Psychoneuroendocrinology suggests that cortisol is detrimental to people with type 2 diabetes and is associated with increased fasting blood sugar levels over the years.

Normally, cortisol levels follow a circadian pattern, peaking in the morning and dropping to a minimum at the end of the day, and cortisol also fluctuates in response to the effects of stress, both mental and physical.

To maintain better blood sugar control, people with type 2 diabetes need to learn to deal with stress, and reducing stress is a key part of diabetes management, the researchers said.

Whether it’s yoga, walking, reading, etc., proper stress reduction is important to everyone’s overall health, especially those with diabetes.

The researchers analyzed data from 1,275 people who participated in the MESA study. About 62% of these people had normal fasting blood sugar, 20% had impaired fasting blood sugar, and 18% had type 2 diabetes.

Studies have found a correlation between cortisol and blood sugar levels only in people with diabetes.

Cortisol's annual growth profile was associated with increased glucose over time. Decreasing and flattening of cortisol levels was associated with an increase in the annual rate of change in blood glucose.

The longitudinal association of changes in diurnal cortisol features with fasting glucose: MESA. 2020, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Available online 13 July