Do you live with diabetes and do all the right things, but still struggle with blood sugar control? You may be overlooking an important piece: stress. Yes, diet, exercise, and medication matter. But stress can affect glucose management, too.
Stress hormones raise your blood sugar and can make your cells less sensitive to insulin. When stress becomes chronic, this response can stay active. This can lead to adrenal fatigue and increase the risk of insulin resistance.
That’s why blood sugar issues can persist even when you feel like you’re doing everything right. If this sounds like you, supporting your adrenal health may be the missing link. Read on for a functional medicine doctor’s take on how adrenal fatigue affects your blood sugar and how to restore balance to your body with the support of functional medicine in Orland Park, IL.
How Stress Affects Your Blood Sugar
Stress activates your body’s “fight or flight response.” This increases the release of stress hormones, including cortisol and adrenaline. As these hormones rise, it sets off a series of changes to prepare your body to respond to threats. Among them is an increase in glucose, your body’s primary source of energy.1
Cortisol signals your liver to release stored glucose into your bloodstream.2 This provides a quick burst of energy, which helps you either fight or flee to safety. Once the threat passes, your stress hormones return to baseline, along with glucose.
This system works perfectly when faced with threats like running from a tiger. The problem? Stress these days looks quite different from that of our ancestors.
Instead of physical stressors like predators, stress today is often more psychological. Work demands, financial worries, relationship conflicts, and busy schedules can all take a toll. And unlike primal threats, such as escaping a tiger, stressors today often linger.
When stress becomes chronic, cortisol can remain elevated. This can lead to high blood sugar levels, adrenal fatigue, and even contribute to the development of diabetes.3
What is Adrenal Fatigue?
Adrenal fatigue is a term coined to describe a collection of stress-related symptoms. But the name is a bit of a misnomer. Adrenal fatigue doesn’t mean your adrenal glands are worn out. It means your stress response system has become dysregulated.
HPA axis dysfunction is a more accurate name. Your HPA-axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis) is in charge of your stress response.
When your body senses danger, it sends alarm bells to your brain’s hypothalamus, which relays the message to your pituitary gland. It then triggers your adrenal glands to release stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline.
As these hormones rise, it sends your body into “fight or flight” mode. Heart rate, blood flow, and alertness increase, and non-essential tasks like digestion slow down. Once the stressor’s over, your body returns to baseline.
But when too much stress piles up, the stress response can stay stuck. This can dysregulate the HPA axis and cause cortisol rhythms to become abnormal.4 In functional medicine, this is often referred to as adrenal fatigue or HPA axis dysfunction.
Normally, cortisol levels follow a natural curve, rising in the morning and falling at night. This pattern energizes you for the day ahead and helps you wind down when it’s time for bed.
With adrenal fatigue, cortisol patterns can get thrown off. Levels may be too high, too low, or the curve may become flattened. And when this occurs, your body may start sending you some signals.
Symptoms of adrenal fatigue
- Fatigue
- Trouble sleeping
- Brain fog
- High or low blood sugar
- Cravings for sugary or salty foods
- Weight gain (especially around the belly)
- Anxiety or depression
- Poor resilience to stress
- Frequent infections
- Feeling “tired but wired.”
As you can see from the list, adrenal fatigue and diabetes share a lot of the same symptoms (e.g., fatigue, cravings, anxiety, weight gain). That’s no accident. Remember, cortisol increases glucose. So when cortisol becomes imbalanced, it can disrupt your blood sugar, too.
Why Adrenal Fatigue Can Make Diabetes Harder to Manage
Typically, excess glucose gets stored in your liver as glycogen. This puts fuel into your reservoir for later use. But when you’re in stress mode, your body’s main concern is survival, not saving for the future.
When cortisol levels stay high (which is often the case with adrenal fatigue), your cells can become less sensitive to insulin.5 This keeps glucose in your bloodstream to supply you with a quick source of energy.
This works well under acute stress situations. But in cases of chronic stress, this can lead to high glucose levels. This can make it harder for people with diabetes to manage their blood sugar, even if they’re taking insulin or other medications as prescribed.
Adrenal fatigue also creates inflammation, which can worsen insulin resistance.6 This can make it harder to keep glucose steady, regardless of whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes.7
On top of that, many adrenal fatigue symptoms can lead to unhealthy food and lifestyle choices. Fatigue can make it harder to stay active, which is key for diabetes management. And cravings can make you turn to quick energy sources, like sugary foods or refined carbs. This can further aggravate blood sugar imbalances.
The relationship between cortisol, glucose, and insulin can create a vicious cycle. This can make it harder to keep your blood sugar stable if you have diabetes.
Treating Adrenal Fatigue and Diabetes: A Functional Medicine Approach
If your blood sugar feels hard to manage, adrenal fatigue may be part of the problem. Stress hormones like cortisol raise glucose and decrease insulin sensitivity. Over time, this can make it more difficult to maintain blood sugar balance.
Functional medicine takes a holistic, root cause approach to managing diabetes. Rather than focusing only on glucose, it considers how stress patterns affect blood sugar. When stress hormones are better regulated, blood sugar is often easier to control.
Simple ways to manage stress and blood sugar:
- Stay active: Movement improves insulin sensitivity and helps lower glucose levels. Even a short 10-minute walk after meals can make a difference! 8, 9
- Mindfulness: Deep breathing, yoga, meditation, or just mindful quiet time helps calm the nervous system and lower cortisol.
- Nutrition: Eating balanced meals with fiber, protein, and healthy fats minimizes blood sugar spikes.
- Sleep: Skimping on sleep raises cortisol levels and can worsen glucose control. Aim for 7-9 hours every night.
Functional medicine often uses testing to look at hormones, stress patterns, and other underlying factors that can affect blood sugar. Understanding how your body responds to stress can help guide more targeted, effective care.
Manage Diabetes & Adrenal Fatigue with Functional Medicine in Orland Park, IL
If you’re struggling with blood sugar control and showing signs of adrenal fatigue, functional medicine in Orland Park, IL can help. Rather than focusing on glucose alone, it views diabetes through a whole-body lens. This makes it easier to see how stress, hormones, and blood sugar affect one another.
Live in the Chicago area and are ready to take the next step? Anchored in Health is here for you. Here’s how to get started:
- Contact us with questions.
- Book your first appointment with our functional medicine doctor in Orland Park.
- Discover how treating adrenal fatigue can make it easier to manage glucose.
Other Holistic Health Services Offered at Anchored in Health in Orland Park, IL
Anchored in Health provides a variety of services to promote whole-body health. We offer chiropractic care, acupuncture, and massage therapy to ease stress and balance your nervous system. We also offer genetic testing, thermography, Vibrant Wellness testing, and the Shape ReClaimed program. If you live in the Orland Park area and are ready to take a holistic approach to your health, reach out to us today!
Disclaimer: The information provided on this blog is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The content is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the guidance of a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition.
Reading this blog does not establish a doctor-patient relationship between you and Anchored In Health or any of its practitioners. Reliance on any information provided in this blog is solely at your own risk.
Sources:
- Physiology, Stress Reaction | NCBI
- How Stress Hormones Affect Blood Sugar Levels in Diabetes | The African Journal of Diabetes Medicine
- Stress-Induced Diabetes: A Review | PMC
- An Integrative Approach to HPA Axis Dysfunction: From Recognition to Recovery | Science Direct
- Cortisol Is Negatively Associated with Insulin Sensitivity in Overweight Latino Youth | PMC
- Inflammation and Insulin Resistance | PMC
- The Role of Inflammation in Diabetes: Current Concepts and Future Perspectives | PMC
- Update on the effects of physical activity on insulin sensitivity in humans | PMC
- Advice to walk after meals is more effective for lowering postprandial glycaemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus than advice that does not specify timing: a randomised crossover study | Pubmed
