How stress causes Diabetes?
Stress causes diabetes in many different ways. One common cause is due to the long term elevation of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol is a steroid hormone produced from cholesterol in the two adrenal glands on top of each kidney. This hormone is normally released in response to various events and circumstances in life such as waking up in the morning, exercising, and/or injury. In addition to that, Cortisol’s far-reaching systemic effects play many important roles in the body.
One contributing factor about how stress causes diabetes is its role in human nutrition. Cortisol regulates energy by selecting the right type and amount of “food” the body needs to meet their physiological demands. When chronically elevated, cortisol can have deleterious effects on weight, immune function, and chronic disease risk. Most importantly, blood sugar imbalance that ultimately leads to diabetes.
A typical pathway of how the stress causes diabetes is through the stress response in our body. This response operates as its intention to put survival at the highest priorities. The resulting biochemical and hormonal imbalances driven negative feedback loop that affect the overall health.
This is how stress causes Diabetes.
- An individual is faced with a stressor.
- Complex hormonal cascade causes adrenals to secrete cortisol.
- The body goes into a fight-or-flight response with high glucose, supplying an immediate energy source to large muscles.
- Cortisol inhibits insulin production in an attempt to prevent glucose from being stored.
- Cortisol narrows the arteries while the epinephrine increases heart rate, both of which force blood to pump harder and faster. High blood pressure may be the result.
- Long term stress cause cortisol level to stay high.
- Hormone levels never return to normal. The result is high blood glucose and high blood pressure.
So, when a person is living in an ever-stressed, fast-paced lifestyle, the body is constantly pumping out cortisol. This will wreak havoc on the person’s health in the long run. In the context of diabetes, when an individual stays under a stressful conditions, cortisol also converts protein in the body to pump up more glucose. This process takes place in the liver. With elevated cortisol over the long term consistently produces glucose, leading to increased blood sugar levels. Hence, the diagnosis of diabetes in the end.
Therefore, that’s how long term stress causes diabetes in the long run. With the increase risk for type 2 diabetes, the body remains in a insulin-resistant state when cortisol levels stay high. Over time, the pancreas struggles to keep up with the high demand for insulin, and causes the glucose levels in the blood remain high. When the cells cannot get the sugar they need, and the cycle continues.
Speak to us more to find out our patient-centered “Stress-Less” treatment plan to prevent and/or reverse your diabetes. Our doctor is certified in the practice of Functional Diagnosis Medicine, which aim to address today’s health crisis of chronic lifestyle diseases.
Tags diabetes Type 2 Diabetes
