Why Does Diabetes Make You Tired
1. Abnormal Blood Sugar Levels
Both high and low blood glucose levels can cause tiredness.
- High blood sugar levels: In type-1 diabetes, your body fails to produce enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels low, while your body fails to utilize insulin properly if you have type-2 diabetes. Insulin transports glucose into your cells to provide you with energy. When insulin is not enough or is not working efficiently, the sugar in your blood cannot be transferred into cells, so cells can’t get enough energy to function well, making you feel tired.
- Low blood sugar levels: Your tiredness could be due to hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, which is the result of too much insulin in your body. This may happen when you consume too much insulin or diabetes medications. Besides, eating quickly digestible carbs will make your blood sugar level go up and then crash quickly within a couple of hours. The absence of enough glucose in your blood also makes you feel tired.
2. Diabetes Daily Management and Stress
Daily management of tasks are difficult with diabetes. You need to track your blood sugar levels all the time, take your medications in a timely manner, pay attention to your diet, and do regular exercise. Taking care of all these things can make you feel stressed. When you are under stress, your body triggers the production of glucose in the blood. This can cause regular tiredness, especially in people with type-2 diabetes.
3. Sleep Issues
4. Inflammation
How To Identify Blood Sugar Spikes
Fatigue is associated with a myriad of other conditions, as well as just day-to-day life and other stressors, so it alone cannot tell you whether you are experiencing a blood sugar spike. People with diabetes are encouraged to keep tabs on their blood sugar levels to detect any sudden changes. This is one of the ways they can identify when blood sugar spikes happen.
The most common cause of high blood sugar is improper insulin production. Insulin is the hormone that is tasked with regulating blood sugar levels, and if it is not being produced at high enough levels or at all, it can lead to high blood sugar levels.
There are few reasons why insulin levels in the body are inadequate, including:
- Eating too much
- Not receiving enough insulin from treatment
- Having a malfunctioning diabetes pump
- Having insulin that is ineffective at managing blood sugar levels
Other risk factors that should be taken into consideration include weight, age, history of smoking, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure levels. These can all contribute to diabetes.
For a person without diabetes, insulin levels are unlikely to be considered at all. This is why it can be helpful to keep a food log and note levels of fatigue or other symptoms following every meal. If fatigue generally sets in after eating, it could be a sign that its attributed to blood sugar levels. If this does happen, it may indicate that a person should follow up with their healthcare provider and have their blood sugar levels checked.
What Does Diabetes Fatigue Feel Like
Many people with diabetes experience feelings of exhaustion, lethargy, or fatigue from time to time. It could be caused by stress, hard work, or a lack of a decent nights sleep. But it could also be linked to having too high or too low blood glucose levels. Chronic fatigue, particularly tiredness after meals, is one of the common symptoms of diabetes.
Fatigue manifests itself in the following ways:
- Physical or mental lack of energy
- Difficulty in performing basic daily tasks
- Apathy
- Depression or mental fatigue.
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Managing Tiredness And High Blood Sugar After Meals
If tiredness is accompanied by high blood glucose levels after meals, it can indicate one or more of the following:
- The carbohydrate you are eating is too quick acting for you medication to cope with
- You are eating too much carbohydrate for your medication/dosage
- Your medication/dosage is not strong enough
You should only change your medication dosage if your doctor has approved you to.
Putting on weight is a common indication that ones insulin levels are too high. People who are overweight and experiencing tiredness as a result of high blood glucose levels may be able to combat tiredness by reducing their carbohydrate intake.
A doctor or dietitian should be able to help you with how to reduce your blood glucose levels whilst achieving a healthy weight.
What Is Diabetic Ketoacidosis
DKA is a serious, short-term complication of diabetes. It occurs when your body has high blood glucose and a buildup of blood acids called ketones. Since people with type 2 diabetes do not produce enough insulin so their body can use glucose for energy, their body may burn fat instead to get energy. Burning fat causes the production of ketones, which can be toxic in the bloodstream.4-6
DKA most commonly occurs in people who are sick with nausea, vomiting, and not eating. Therefore they do not take their insulin. It can also occur in people who do not know they have diabetes and their pancreas has already failed to produce the necessary amount of insulin. Illness also increases your need for insulin because blood sugar rises as your bodys response. Symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis usually develop quickly, and in extreme cases can cause a person to go into a coma. It should be treated as a medical emergency. If you experience symptoms of ketoacidosis, call your doctor right away.4-6
While maintaining a healthy weight is a healthy part of type 2 diabetes management, it is important to note that rapid, unexplained weight loss requires immediate medical attention.
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How Does Diabetes Affect Sleep
Its estimated that one in two people with type 2 diabetes have sleep problems due to unstable blood sugar levels and accompanying diabetes-related symptoms, High blood sugar and low blood sugar during the night can lead to insomnia and next-day fatigue. As with many chronic conditions, feelings of depression or stress about the disease itself may also keep you awake at night.
When blood sugar levels are high, the kidneys overcompensate by causing you to urinate more often. During the night, these frequent trips to the bathroom lead to disrupted sleep. High blood sugar may also cause headaches, increased thirst, and tiredness that can interfere with falling asleep.
By contrast, going too many hours without eating or taking the wrong balance of diabetes medication can also lead to low blood sugar levels at night. You may have nightmares, break out into a sweat, or feel irritated or confused when you wake up.
Talk to your healthcare provider if you are experiencing fatigue, trouble sleeping, or any other worrying symptoms. They can help analyze the reason and work with you to keep your blood sugar levels more stable.
Contribution Of Blood Glucose To Chronic And Acute Fatigue
For the substudy, the majority of patients was willing to participate. Twenty-one patients were excluded because of the presence of a comorbidity . A subset of 68 patients participated. From two patients, no data were obtained. Sixteen patients had incomplete 5-day data sets but were included in the analyses. Reasons for incomplete or absent data were premature sensor removal , technical problems with the CGM system or EFD . In this substudy, participants did not differ from patients not willing to participate regarding age, sex, fatigue severity, and HbA1c . The prevalence of chronic fatigue in the substudy was 37% compared with 40% in the total sample.
Chronically fatigued T1DM patients spent in proportion less time in hypoglycemia compared with nonchronically fatigued patients . There was no significant difference between the two groups in GLmean , Gvar and hyper .
None of the four blood glucose parameters were significantly associated with acute fatigue. Correlations between EFD scores and glucose parameters were GLmean , Gvar , hyper or hypo . GEEs showed no significant between- or within-subject effects of GLmean_hour and Gvar_hour on acute fatigue .
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Eating The Right Foods For You
When it comes to avoiding big blood sugar spikes and dips, there are some general guidelines you can follow.
However, to make sure youre eating the best foods for you, its important to understand your bodys unique metabolism. And your blood sugar levels are not the only thing involved in shaping it.
Your gut microbiome is the name for the trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in your gut. It plays an important part in your overall health and how your body responds to food.
When the bad bugs in your gut microbiome outnumber the good, it can have a negative effect on how your body manages energy.
At ZOE, we run the largest study of nutrition and the gut microbiome in the world, with over 15,000 participants so far. Our data show that theres no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition and that everyone responds differently to foods.
ZOEs at-home test helps you to understand your bodys responses to different foods by analyzing your blood sugar, blood fat, and your gut microbiome.
Based on your results, we give you personalized recommendations of the best foods for you.
Our unpublished research found that 82% of people who closely followed their personalized ZOE nutrition program said they had more energy.
What Causes Tiredness In Diabetes
When you are a patient of diabetes, there are several changes that are experienced by your blood. Your blood flow tends to become very slow as the blood gets thicker, like a maple syrup. Due to this, the blood does not reach to the inner cells in an appropriate manner to give enough oxygen and energy to different body parts and organs in the body. This results in tiredness and you tend to feel sleepy at all times.
Another reason for tiredness caused in the diabetic patients is that the condition leads to inflammation. This acts as a sign to the brain that it needs to take some rest and this process causes the fatigue amongst all the people who suffer from diabetes.
Finally, diabetes is known to give rise to a host of complications in its patients. People often experience the lack of red blood cells in their body. This again leads to tiredness. Other complications such as kidney failure, heart-related conditions, as well as damage to various body nerves cause tiredness in the people who have diabetes.
Fatigue is also caused due to very high or very low blood glucose levels. the same is explained in the following paragraph:
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How Can I Beat/reduce Fatigue With Diabetes And Regain My Energy
There are many ways to reduce fatigue with diabetes and regain energy. The most important thing that you can do is to control your blood sugar. This limits complications and also provides your body with the fuel that it needs to operate. You can also eat smart and exercise. Exercise actually decreases fatigue up to 65%. By taking care of yourself, you can decrease fatigue and increase quality of life.
You shouldnt make any changes to your diet, insulin, or exercise regimen without talking to your doctor. First off, your doctor needs to be consulted and you need to talk with him about the following things:
- Can my fatigue be caused by another disease? This rules out all other reasons for your fatigue so you can focus on the main cause.
- Are any of the side effects from my medications causing the fatigue?
- Is it a good idea for me to start taking supplements such as Vitamin D, Vitamin B, Calcium, Chromium, Ginseng, Coenzymes, or Magnesium?
- Is my thyroid okay?
- What kind of exercises would be best for me?
- How can I better control my blood sugar to decrease fatigue?
- What is a healthy weight for me to be?
Eating too many carbohydrates can cause you to feel drowsy. You should also schedule an appointment to talk with your dietitian or nutritionist to discuss the following things:
- Would juicing be okay for me?
- Am I eating too many carbs?
- How can I improve my diet to decrease my fatigue?
Other things that you can do to decrease fatigue include:
Diabetes And Fatigue: Everything You Need To Know
What exactly is fatigue? Is it just being tired after working a long week or not getting enough sleep?
The answer is no.
Fatigue is excessive tiredness that makes carrying out simple tasks difficult and interferes with one or more life functions. Sounds terrible, doesnt it? Well imagine having a chronic illness along with the fatigue. Diabetes and fatigue have a strong relationship, and it can make a persons life very difficult. The following article will discuss the relationship, along with ways to beat and reduce the risk of living with diabetes and fatigue.
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Detecting Blood Sugar Spikes
Fatigue is related to a numberless of other conditions, along with day-to-day life as well as other stressors, so it alone does not tell an individual whether he or she is experiencing a raised level of glucose. Diabetics are encouraged to keep checks over their blood glucose levels to sense any abrupt alterations. This can be a very common way by which people can detect blood sugar spikes.
Also, the most common reason behind hyperglycemia is inappropriate insulin production. Insulin is the hormone that plays a key role in regulating blood glucose levels, and if it is not being formed at sufficient levels or at all, it may cause high glucose levels.
Some reasons why insulin levels in the body become insufficient, including:
- Consuming in excess
- Not receiving a sufficient amount of insulin from treatment
- Being stressed all the time
- Having a broken diabetes pump
- Using insulin that is unsuccessful at managing blood glucose levels
Other risk factors that must be considered are age, weight, history of smoking, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. These may add to diabetes.
Why Does Diabetes Cause Sudden Weight Loss Constant Hunger And Fatigue
Your body gets energy from glucose that is in the foods you eat. In type 2 diabetes, your body is not able to use the glucose effectively. This causes your blood glucose levels to become too high. This can lead to constant hunger. Your body may start burning fat and muscle for energy instead, which can cause rapid weight loss.1,2
Weight loss can also be caused by frequent urination, which is another common symptom of type 2 diabetes. This happens in type 2 diabetes when extra glucose and other fluids from your organs are removed in your urine. This process can make you dehydrated and leave you feeling extra thirsty. This causes you to drink more fluids to quench your thirst, which leads to even more urination.2
Dehydration from excessive urination can also lead to feelings of fatigue. High blood sugar is another cause of fatigue since your body cannot use the glucose for energy. Studies have found that fatigue in people with type 2 diabetes may also be a result of chronic inflammation caused by a weakened immune system.3
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Can High Sugar Make You Tired
Individuals with type 1 or 2 diabetes are usually alert of the signs that follow high blood glucose. For a person with a recent diagnosis of diabetes or an individual with standard or prediabetic levels, on the other hand, those signs might not be as noticeable. It might be hard to distinguish between the signs of high blood glucose and other illnesses as few may be nonspecific. One of these nonspecific signs of high glucose levels in the blood that diabetics often experience is fatigue. Here in this article, you can read about the correlation between blood sugar and exhaustion and does diabetes causes fatigue.
Keep Up With Regular Check
Even if you feel like things are going well with managing your diabetes, its always a good idea to keep up with regular visits with your healthcare provider. Screening your blood sugar, kidney functioning, and other aspects of your health can help identify any potential problems earlier which could help improve your energy level.
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What Is The Connection Between Sleep Apnea And Diabetes
Though sleep apnea does not directly cause diabetes, it is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and has been shown to increase insulin resistance, even in non-diabetic and non-overweight people. The American Diabetes Association estimates that up to one in four people with type 2 diabetes also suffers from OSA, and a further quarter of type 2 diabetics suffer from another sleep-related breathing disorder.
Both OSA and type 2 diabetes are more common in people who are overweight and obese. However, OSA appears to affect insulin resistance and glucose control even after controlling for obesity. Not only does OSA cause sleep fragmentation that interferes with slow-wave sleep, but it also periodically cuts off the bodys oxygen supply. Together, these effects lead to insulin resistance and impaired glucose metabolism.
In many studies, short-term sleep apnea treatment appears to improve blood sugar levels, while long-term CPAP treatment improves blood sugar and insulin resistance. However, other studies have failed to find improvements in blood glucose levels after treating OSA, leading some researchers to believe the connection could be due to other variables such as weight.
More research is needed to further characterize the nature of the connection, but it is clear that physical health plays an important role in sleep apnea and diabetes. A combination of weight loss and CPAP treatment may be the most effective way to treat sleep apnea in people with type 2 diabetes.