Hi, and welcome back. So today I want you to kind of understand how stress can actually impact your blood sugar's. So what you may not be aware of is the stress, chemical cortisol. When it gets released into our body, it actually impacts our insulin. And it actually suppresses insulin so that insulin doesn't work very well. So when we are in a stress state, emotionally, we're stressed mentally, we're stressed because of projects maybe that we're working on.

We're stressed because we've been skipping meals or haven't gotten enough sleep that causes our body to release cortisol. And when you release cortisol, insulin does not work as well. So, in fact, it actually causes us to become insulin resistant. The second thing Is cortisol actually caused our body to produce more glucose? Because if you think about it in the moment that we're in a stress state, we go to fight or flight to save our lives. Well, we're going to need energy to do that.

So when we release cortisol, our body actually produces breaks down and produces glucose. So now we have higher blood sugars, and we have insulin that's not working very well. That combination is not good for us. We're trying to learn how to balance our blood sugars. And this is why it's important for you to consider stress management techniques that you're doing every day. Now, of course, if you're exercising from the exercise program, you will know that that can be used as a stress relief process.

So you've already got one thing that you're working on, but if you need more options for stress relief, really consider some of the techniques that I will share with you later. The other thing about strategy And cortisol is that if you are in the process of eating, for example, and you witness a stressful situation, let's say you're watching the news and you're eating at the same time, if you witnessed that stressful situation, it will cause your blood sugar's to go up, because of that stressful situation. So make sure that when you're eating, that you're doing it in a relaxed way, a relaxed space, so that you don't cause your blood sugar's to go up even higher. So these are a few tips that I want you to think about. As we move through the other sections of this module, we will actually talk about practical ideas about how to manage stress, but I just wanted you to be aware that stress in of itself actually promotes diseases in our bodies.

One is high blood sugar balancing, but it also can promote obesity and overweight and weight gain. Stress can also cause blood pressure issues and problems and cholesterol issues and problems. So we want to really consider stress management an important part of our treatment plan and take it seriously and do it consistently. So go to the handout and think about relaxing thoughts. Fill out the form, and it will begin to give you some ideas about what you can do for your own personal stress management.