Hyperglycemia is the medical term for a high blood sugar (glucose) level. It’s a common problem for people with diabetes. The body requires energy to function, and this energy comes from food. Specifically, your body breaks down glucose for energy using the insulin produced by the pancreas.
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes cause impairment to this breakdown of sugar in the body, causing blood glucose levels to become irregular. When glucose is not broken down into energy, it can build up in the bloodstream and then becomes a health problem.
Your pancreas produces insulin, which breaks down glucose. With type 1 diabetes, the cells that produce insulin are mistakenly attacked by your immune system. As a result of this autoimmune condition, blood sugar levels can become dangerously high without intervention.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when your body no longer responds to insulin as well as it should and then also causes glucose to accumulate in the blood.
Things That Can Cause High Blood Sugar
Stress
Are you under stress every single day? Then don’t be surprised if it seems like high blood sugar is difficult to put under control. According to health authorities, having too much stress is something that can cause your blood sugar to increase. The problem with this is that it can also increase your appetite, causing you to seriously crave nothing but sugary treats!
Needless to say, it’s of utmost importance for you to dodge everyday stressors that can be avoided. Regularly engaging in stress-lowering activities is expert-recommended, too.
Lack of Sleep
Getting 7 to 9 hours of restorative is good not only for your appearance but also blood sugar. Scientists say that failure to get a good night’s sleep is something that can actually mess with the way your body utilizes sugar, thus resulting in its accumulation in the bloodstream.
Definitely, you should figure out the cause of your insomnia — dealing with it promptly can help you get a good night’s sleep and thus save your blood sugar levels from going through the roof.
Artificial Sweeteners
If you think that ditching table sugar are replacing it with artificial sweetener will do your blood sugar levels some good, better think again. Based on numerous scientific investigations, the inclusion of artificial sweeteners in the diet can in fact cause a surge in the blood sugar.
Experts believe that that it can be blamed on the fact that artificial sweeteners can wreak havoc on the gut health — studies say that a gut that’s less than optimum can have an unfavorable impact on the levels of sugar in the bloodstream.
Coffee
Whether you sweeten a cup of coffee with table sugar or artificial sweetener, having it can in fact cause your blood sugar to increase. Scientists say that caffeine can have an effect on the levels of your insulin, a hormone that regulates the amount of sugar in the blood. So if you are a coffee-lover and you need to keep your blood sugar levels to within the normal range, it’s a good idea to consume coffee in moderation.
It’s not just coffee that you should limit considerably in order to fend off high blood sugar, but also other caffeinated drinks including most especially soft drinks — regular or diet is bad for your blood sugar and overall health!
Dehydration
Health-conscious individuals know that dehydration can cause constipation. On the other hand, beauty-aware individuals are well-aware of the fact that it is something that can cause skin dryness and wrinkling. Sadly, not a lot of people realize that failure to keep the body hydrated can also cause an increase in the blood sugar levels.
It goes without saying that consuming around 2 liters of water a day is a must for those who are suffering from diabetes or prediabetes. Even if you do not have any of them, it’s still very important for you to ensure that your body is properly hydrated.
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Natural Treatments for High Blood Sugar
Walking
Exercise can help to lower blood sugar and walking is a good way of achieving this.
It might make sense that exercising harder would have a better effect on lowering blood sugar therefore, but this is not always the case as strenuous exercise can produce a stress response which causes the body to raise blood glucose levels. This response does tend to vary from person.
Drinking More Water
When your blood sugar levels are running high, your body will try to flush excess sugar out of your blood through the urine. As a result, your body will need more fluids to rehydrate itself. Drinking water can help the body with flushing out some of the glucose in the blood.
Just a word of caution to be sensible with drinking water; water intoxication (which can result in death) is possible if a number of liters water are drunk in a short space of time. This is rare and quite difficult to manage but it pays to be aware of this.
Reflect on the Amount of Sugar in your Diet
Hyperglycemia occurs when there is too much glucose in the blood.
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