Signs Your Blood Sugar is Out of Balance

It’s 3 pm, and your energy is tanked. You decide that you either need a nap, a venti Starbucks latte, or a one of the frosted donuts in the break room. A nap is definitely out of the question since you still have a client case to review, and you are definitely craving something sweet right now. Donut it is! You crush the donut, get a temporary energy boost, but an hour later you are feeling more tired than before your afternoon snack. What gives?

Blood sugar balance is something we should all pay attention to. You do not have to have diabetes to feel the effects of blood sugar imbalance. In fact, blood sugar balance has multiple downstream outcomes that affect how we feel each day.

Do you answer YES to any of the following:

• Do you crave sweets?
• Experience frequent brain fog?
• Wake up routinely in the middle of the night (esp. between 2 am and 4 am)?

• Do you have difficulty losing weight?
• Feel sleepy in the afternoon?
• Experience fatigue (always tired even though you sleep)?
• Feel irritable if you miss a meal?

Any of these symptoms can be due to an imbalance of blood sugar.

1. Craving sweets- You body uses both sugar (in the form of glucose), and fats for energy in the body. When you eat a meal that is high in refined sugar, your body can very rapidly break it down to use as glucose (or energy) in the cells. Because of how quickly your body can break this down, there is a rapid dip in blood glucose, and the cells are left “hungry” for more. They signal to your brain that they need more glucose to function, and the brain chooses a fast fix to get you there. (Enter another refined sugar snack or treat for a fast sugar craving fix). And the cycle continues.

2. Brain fog- Your brain’s primary source of fuel is glucose (aka sugar). When your levels are rapidly spiking up then down, you will feel foggy or have less ability to concentrate in the dips.

3. Waking in the middle of the night- Your body is still working while you sleep, especially the liver and kidneys. Their job is to clean out the toxins and filter your system, and they are hard at work overnight. When your body does not have good blood sugar balance, you will experience a massive dip in the evening. To compensate for this dip, your brain will signal to your kidneys to release cortisol to wake you up and get more glucose in your system. Thus the early am wake time.

4. Difficulty losing weight- Weight gain or difficulty losing weight, especially around the middle, often has to do with insulin resistance. Insulin is the hormone responsible for shuttling blood glucose into cells to be used for energy, or stored in muscle to be used later for energy. If your body has rapid elevations of glucose, your insulin has to work harder to usher it into the cells quickly, which then leaves excess insulin in the blood stream. Over time, your body can stop being as responsive to insulin, making it less effective in being able to bring glucose into cells, or to be stored for later use. When your body doesn’t respond to the insulin as it should, the pancreas makes even more insulin to try to help your body bring down your glucose (blood sugar levels). It creates a vicious cycle that can lead to increased fatty tissue, and an inability to lose weight.

5. Feeling sleepy in the afternoon- When you’ve got elevated sugar in the blood, but not in the cells, fatigue or sleepiness can occur since your cells are not getting the energy they need to function. Throw in that sweet pastry as a quick breakfast, and your insulin spikes up, which can then cause a dip which causes fatigue.

6. Feeling Hangry-  Are you someone who can't "miss" a meal?  When you are balanced, you should be able to go at least 3 hours between meals without feeling starved.  If you are hungry within an hour  or two of your last meal, you likely have an unbalanced blood sugar.  You may feel anxious or irritated if you don't get a meal, which can be directly related to a rapid dip in your sugar levels.