How To Prevent Low Blood Sugar At Night
Expert Reviewed Three Methods:Avoiding Triggers of Low Blood Sugar Levels at NightStabilizing Your Blood Sugar Levels with DietCoping with Low Blood Sugar Levels at NightCommunity Q& A Low blood sugar levels can wake you up in the middle of the night with feelings of anxiousness, nausea, dizziness and hunger. Nighttime hypoglycemia is a common concern for Type 1 diabetics, since the pancreas no longer secretes insulin to compensate for the lows. Keeping track of your diet to ensure adequate protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats is equally important for anyone who is experiencing low blood sugar at night. If you are diabetic, it is important to monitor your blood sugar levels throughout the day and especially at night to prevent hypoglycemia. In addition, you should find a bedtime routine that is both comfortable and predictable while avoiding exercise, alcohol and other disruptions of your regular nighttime routine.Continue reading > >
How Is It Determined If The Dawn Phenomenon Or Somogyi Effect Is Causing The High Blood Sugar Levels
Your doctor will likely ask you to check your blood sugar levels between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. for several nights in a row. If your blood sugar is consistently low during this time, the Somogyi effect is suspected. If the blood sugar is normal during this time period, the dawn phenomenon is more likely to be the cause.
Some additional clues that the Somogyi effect may be the cause include nightmares, restless sleep and overnight sweating as these are all signs of low blood sugar levels.
Can Diabetes Cause Night Sweats
- Did you know that if you enjoy a glass of wine or beer before bed, you may be stopping your liver functioning to produce glucose overnight? If youve ever woken up in a cold sweat after a night out this is the cause!
- Exercising lots during the day can mean you use up your bodys stores of glucose if you dont replenish these before bed you could suffer from nocturnal hypoglycemia..
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Insufficient Sleep Can Throw Blood Sugar Out Of Whack
Restless nights hurt more than your mood and energy they may also spell trouble for your blood sugar. A review published in December 2015 in Diabetes Therapy concluded that a lack of sleep may hinder glucose control and insulin sensitivity in people with type 2 diabetes.
“Sleep is restorative,” Bonsignore says. “Not getting enough sleep is a form of chronic stress on the body, and anytime you have added stress, you’re going to have higher blood sugar levels.”
Unfortunately, people with type 2 diabetes commonly report troubles sleeping, McDermott says. Those with high body-mass indexes are at particular risk for sleep apnea, in which breathing frequently starts and stops during sleep.
To improve your sleep quality and duration, work to get into a consistent sleep routine where you go to bed and wake at the same time every day. Your goal: Nab seven to nine hours of sleep per night, per recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation. If you continue to have sleep troubles or suspect you have sleep apnea , reach out to a sleep medicine specialist for support, Bonsignore says.
Type 2 Diabetes: High Blood Sugar Levels Before Bed
Diabetes is a common condition that affects around 10%¹ of people in the US. Approximately 9095% of these people have type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is not curable, but you can effectively manage it and even put it into remission. Monitoring your blood sugar levels is one of the best ways to keep the condition under control.
Blood glucose levels can change throughout the day. The reading you get will depend on many factors. Knowing what to expect from these fluctuations can help you identify a problem and take the necessary steps to manage it.
Lets take a closer look at type 2 diabetes and what you should expect from your blood sugar levels before bed, in the morning, and throughout the rest of the day.
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How Does Sleep Apnea Treatment Affect Blood Pressure
There are a number of treatment options for OSA. Treatment not only improves sleep quality but could also help manage hypertension. The most common and effective treatment is called continuous positive airway pressure .
CPAP treatment involves wearing a facemask attached to a machine that pumps air into the lungs at night. It works by preventing the airway from collapsing, which improves sleep quality in people affected by OSA. Studies investigating the effects of CPAP in patients with hypertension and OSA have shown that treatment with CPAP lowers blood pressure during the day and at night, especially in patients with severe OSA. CPAP also reduces catecholamine levels.
Some patients have a hard time adjusting to the CPAP facemask at night. Consistent, proper use of CPAP is important in order to effectively manage OSA and hypertension. Mouthpieces are one alternative to CPAP and are designed to help maintain an open airway during sleep. Research is needed to determine if mouthpieces also lower blood pressure in people who experience high blood pressure and OSA. Certain surgical procedures are also done to treat OSA in selected patients.
Losing weight either through diet and lifestyle changes or through weight-loss surgery is another approach to managing OSA that may also lower blood pressure.
High Blood Sugar At Night: What It Means And What To Do By Mehdi Yacoubi
Your body is a complex machine working around the clock to maintain a healthy status quo. Muscles flex, tendons stretch, nerves fire, and over 10 different organ systems communicate to support one another throughout the day.
At some point, however, your body decides it needs to rest after all that endless work. As you get ready for bed and drift off to sleep, these systems remain active and alert. And one of them â the circulatory system â regulates your blood glucose levels.
From body weight to sleep habits, many factors influence your blood glucose levels when you sleep. But if these levels are irregular at night, what should you do to regain control? And how can you stabilize them again, whether they’re high or low? Here are some tips and strategies to help you understand and manage your blood glucose levels before bed and through the night.
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Limit Alcohol At Night
Alcohol consumption can also increase the risk for nighttime hypoglycemia, so avoid regular consumption of alcohol. On special occasions, drink only in moderation no more than one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men and don’t wait to indulge with a before-bed nightcap. If you do have a drink in the evening, enjoying it with food can minimize the chance of low blood sugar while you sleep.
/5all You Need To Know About It
It is regular for everyone to wake up once or twice at night to drink water or use the loo. After we are done with the work, we get under the sheet and within minutes we fall back asleep to complete our 8 hours of sound sleep. For those suffering from diabetes, things are a little different.
Most diabetic patients wake up almost every night at the same time, around 3 pm, not by some noise or anything else, but because of the sudden spike in the blood sugar level. It can happen due to two reasons the Somogyi effect or the dawn phenomenon.
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Give Yourself Some Grace
Its important to keep in mind that diabetes management is HARD work. If it were easy, everyone would have perfect blood sugars and A1c! Our bodies are constantly growing and changing, and so should our diabetes management.
Be flexible with what your body needs, and work with your doctor when making any drastic changes to your insulin therapy. And perfection is not the ideal.
Continually making progress on diabetes management includes mental health and well-being too, so dont stress out too much over blood sugars that arent perfect overnight. If youre having stubborn issues, enlist the support of family and friends to help.
Managing the ups and downs of diabetes is hard any time of day, but can be especially difficult overnight when were supposed to be sleeping and getting the rest we need, but with these strategies, hopefully, overnight high blood sugars will become a thing of the past.
Always work with your medical team before instituting any major changes to your diabetes management and/or insulin therapy.
Effect Of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure On Bp
If OSA contributes to hypertension development or progression, then effective OSA treatment with continuous positive airway pressure should lower BP. However, reports are conflicting. This lack of a consistent treatment effect may be related to multiple variables, including differences in study design, type and size of cohorts, degree of CPAP compliance, treatment duration, and accuracy of BP assessments.
Recently, four metaanalyses of randomized controlled trials on CPAP use have been published . Bazzano et al analyzed 16 randomized clinical trials published between 1980 and 2006, representing 818 participants, that compared participants treated with CPAP with control subjects, that had a minimum treatment duration of 2 weeks, and that reported BP changes during the intervention and control period. Mean net change in systolic BP for participants treated with CPAP vs control subjects was 2.46 mm Hg mean net change in diastolic BP, 1.83 mm Hg and mean net change in mean arterial pressure, 2.22 mm Hg . The authors concluded that their analysis provided evidence that effective CPAP treatment reduces BP.
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Lowering Your High Blood Sugar At Night
As we’ve learned, blood sugar levels are subject to change throughout the day as a result of habits and conditions. From the quality of your sleep to your body weight, the variables at play can quickly become overwhelming, but there are steps you can take to monitor and manage your blood sugar.
Consider investing in a personalized health system like Vital’s continuous glucose monitor and app to gain a better understanding of what’s happening within your body. Even if youâre healthy, active, and attentive, you can still benefit from this information that takes the guesswork out of how your body is performing. Then, based on the data, you can receive personalized and actionable recommendations to optimize your metabolism. Doing so will allow you to manage your blood sugar and maintain healthy levels each and every night.
A Low Blood Sugar Level Without Diabetes
A low blood sugar level is uncommon in people who do not have diabetes.
Possible causes include:
- a gastric bypass
- other medical conditions, such as problems with your hormone levels, pancreas, liver, kidneys, adrenal glands or heart
- some medicines, including quinine
See a GP if you think you keep getting symptoms of a low blood sugar level. They can arrange some simple tests to check if your blood sugar level is low and try to find out what’s causing it.
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Take Advantage Of Technology
If you are fortunate enough to own a continuous glucose monitor , you should make the most of its features. Keep the alarms set to a high and low blood sugar number that you are comfortable with to help wake you if damage control is needed. You can also share Dexcom with a loved one who could alert you of dangerous numbers if you are unable to wake from the alarm on your own. Pumps like Tandem Basal Control have become extremely popular, as they can release insulin if your blood sugars get too high allowing you to focus solely on dreaming of a cure!
Artificial Sweeteners May Alter Blood Sugar Response
Many people with diabetes reach for diet drinks as a substitute for regular soda or juice because they assume that sugar-free beverages won’t raise their blood sugar. But a review published in January 2021 in Frontiers in Nutrition suggested that artificial sweeteners may not be completely neutral after all, and may contribute to impaired glucose homeostasis.
But the research isn’t definitive most government and medical institutions maintain that most artificial sweeteners have no effect on blood sugar. So what could be going on? Mayo Clinic suggests that people can experience a rebound effect when consuming artificial sugars. They consider the sugar-free food healthy, so end up consuming excessive amounts or eating other carb-filled foods because they think the diet drink lets them afford it. The clinic also notes that some noncaloric sweeteners can cause diarrhea, which can contribute to dehydration.
“If you drink a lot of diet soda then you might want to cut back and see if it has an impact on your blood glucose,” says Patty Bonsignore, RN, CDCES, a nurse educator at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. Keep things sugar-free by turning to water or seltzer as opposed to regular soda or juice.
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Why Do Blood Sugars Spike Overnight
As with everything diabetes, the answer is nuanced and can depend on the person and their situation, but mostly blood sugars tend to spike overnight because were not keeping as close of a watch on them.
Think about it: two hours after breakfast or lunch, youre probably testing your blood sugar or monitoring it on your continuous glucose monitor , tracking changes, and dosing appropriately. That same eye for detail is required after exercise, where you normally treat with appropriate low snacks before it becomes dangerous.
That isnt the case when youre sleeping 7-9 hours per night, which can cause people with diabetes a lot of problems.
How Does Your Body Manage Blood Sugar At Night
âYour body uses different types of energy in different ways at different times of day,â says Paul.
At night, your body uses less glucose because you are inactive. Instead, it burns more fat for energy, but it still needs glucose for vital bodily functions.
âYour brain relies almost exclusively on glucose for energy and still needs plenty of it even when youâre asleep,â explains Paul. âSo itâs very important to have a constant supply of glucose overnight.â
To ensure this happens, the body uses various biological feedback mechanisms, including hormones like insulin, which encourage your cells to remove sugar from your blood after you eat.
There is also glucagon, which tells your liver to produce more glucose from fat and other sources if your blood sugar is dipping.
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Why Does My Blood Sugar Go Up During The Night
Blood sugar levels and sleeping habits are intricately associated with each other. Often it can be found that when you go to bed, your blood sugar or glucose level in the blood is around 110 or less while it rises up to 150 when you wake up in the morning. Despite not eating anything during the night or while you are asleep, this blood sugar fluctuation and rise during night is a common phenomenon that is normally referred to as the Dawn Phenomenon or the Dawn Effect.
A Low Blood Sugar Level And Driving
You may still be allowed to drive if you have diabetes or you’re at risk of a low blood sugar level for another reason, but you’ll need to do things to reduce the chance of this happening while you’re driving.
You also need to tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and your car insurance company about your condition.
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Monitoring Sugars Is Vital
When youre ill or just dont feel like eating much, its important to monitor your blood sugar levels more closely than ever. How often depends on whether you have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes and what medications you take.
For Type 1 diabetes: Be sure to monitor your blood sugar before meals and before bedtime, typically four times per day, says Garvey.
Beyond that, check your blood sugars if you notice symptoms of low blood sugar. Those symptoms include:
For Type 2 diabetes: If youre taking a sulfonylurea medication, check your blood sugars at least twice a day in the morning and at bedtime.
Its important to keep in mind that sulfonylureas may cause your blood sugar to drop during the day if you dont eat anything after taking your medication, Garvey says.
If your only treatment is metformin, you may not need to check your blood sugar more than once a day. This medication doesnt typically cause hypoglycemia.
Its important to be aware of the symptoms associated with low blood sugars, says Garvey. Be ready to check your blood sugar and eat or drink 15 grams of simple sugar such as glucose tablets or 4 ounces of juice to correct a low blood sugar if needed. This treatment is also recommended for Type 1 diabetes, she says.
Source: CDC
It was, however, predicted that consistent high sugar consumption in healthy people will overwhelm their insulin production and leave them open to a range of conditions common with diabetes, like cardiovascular diseases.
Prepare Your Bedroom For Sleep
To optimize your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep, its a good idea if your room is quiet, cool, dark, and comfortable.
Set the thermostat between 60°F and 67°F the optimal temperature for sleep.
Lighting matters. Our bodies produce a hormone called melatonin, which helps you sleep. Light slows melatonin production. The more light exposure you have, the less melatonin you produce, and the harder it can be to fall asleep.
Dim the lights as it gets closer to bedtime. Close the shades and curtains in your bedroom so that the rising sun wont wake you up in the morning. Consider installing room darkening or blackout curtains.
Noise can disturb your sleep too. Move your cellphone to another room or put it in a drawer so that incoming texts and calls dont wake you up. If youre sensitive to noise, get a fan or white noise machine, or use earplugs to block out any unwanted sounds.
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