Blood Sugar 101

So many aspects of our health are related to our body’s sugar, specifically, blood glucose management.

Glucose regulation is a matter of survival - if we have too much of it, it becomes toxic and starts to kill cells, too little of it and our central nervous system shuts down. This is why our hypothalamus regulates our glucose levels so tightly - it takes priority over many other bodily systems (such as digestion, reproduction, mood and emotional regulation and more).

Glucose regulation can also require a lot of energy and nutrients. If our glucose levels get too high, the body has to produce more insulin in order to reduce it. If it gets too low then the body has to produce more cortisol in order to raise it. If it continually swings from high to low to high to low all day, the body has to produce a lot more of each in order to stabilise it. The enzymes and building blocks for all of these extra biochemical reactions have to come from somewhere and therefore require us to either consume more nutrients or to surrender nutrients from another system. 

Our body does have a method of storing excess glucose in the liver and muscles to be used later, this is called Glycogen and it is liberated by enzymes when blood sugar demand exceeds supply. However, research shows that when the body is under excess stress on a chronic basis, we can find that either we don’t store as much glycogen or the presence of stress hormones (glucocorticoids) means our glycogen stores are depleted quickly. 

If we sit in this state of high glucose or high/low glucose swings for a prolonged period of time, we may also develop insulin resistance. This happens when the skeletal muscles, liver and fat cells which are our usual ‘storage cupboards’ for excess glucose, stop responding to the signal that insulin sends. It is like these storage cupboards are big, locked pantries and insulin is the secret knock that opens the door to them. Now imagine that we knock on this door over and over again all day, even though we have the secret knock, we are knocking so much that the response is slower, it will be answered eventually but we will have to knock louder and louder (i.e. produce more and more insulin) each time - this is insulin resistance. In other instances, we may not get any response to our knocking and therefore the levels of glucose in our blood may have to remain high - this is hyperinsulinemia. 

Even before that knock begins to be ignored though, our skeletal muscles and our liver cells only have a certain capacity in terms of how much glucose they can store (this is why building more muscles helps regulate glucose), it’s only our fat cells that can essentially keep growing forever as much as we need them to. This is how blood glucose dysregulation has such a strong impact on our body composition too. If we are constantly needing to shuttle glucose out of the blood, we are probably asking our fat cells to keep growing. This growth of fat cells is a two way street because, fat cells are not merely fat cells they are in fact endocrine glands that secrete their own hormonal signals affecting our immune system, mitochondrial health, sex hormones, stress hormones, cardiovascular system and more. 

Our blood glucose also has a strong relationship with our sex hormones, particularly Testosterone. Low testosterone in men has been shown to as a predisposition to type 2 diabetes and equally high glucose levels have been shown to lead to low testosterone. However in women, it’s a different story; high testosterone in women has a proven correlation with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, which goes on to contribute greatly the polycystic ovarian syndrome. 

Elevated glucose levels are also one of a group of conditions that make up Metabolic Syndrome, alongside high blood pressure, obesity and abnormal triglyceride levels. These conditions have been shown to increase risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes and ultimately, premature death. 

The good news is that blood glucose can be regulated through movement, diet and stress management (except for Type 1 Diabetes).

At Rē Precision Health we teach tools to regulate the nervous system through education and immersive experiences online and in our bubbles of paradise in Mexico and Portugal. Our programs have positively impacted (and even saved) hundreds of lives. 

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All information provided in our resources in for informational purposes only. It is not intended to replace a medical/mental health professional.