What affects the blood sugar?

Literally everything can and will affect your blood sugar. Of course some things are obvious: sugar raises blood sugar. So drinking a soda, eating candy, or stirring honey into your tea will all raise your blood sugar. But sugars are also lurking in lots of other places, especially in something called a carbohydrate, or “carb.” Carbs are foods that turn to sugar quickly in your blood. Examples include potatoes, bread, pasta, and milk.

That doesn’t mean people with diabetes can’t have these foods, only that these foods will generally raise your blood sugar.

Exercise can move your blood sugar in either direction. A heavy work out will often raise blood sugar at first, but hours later will cause it to drop.

If you are stressed out, in most cases, your blood sugar will rise. If you are sick, it is a kind of stress on your body, and again, most people’s blood sugar will go up.

Alcohol will often make your blood sugar drop, and not always at predictable times; and drugs, both prescription and recreational, can have a wide variety of affects: some causing rises and others causing drops.

If you are female, your menstrual cycle will often make your blood sugar erratic.

Even the weather may affect your blood sugar, and all of these external and internal factors can make keeping your blood sugar in control frustrating, which of course will raise your blood sugar…

What is important, however, is that you be aware of the various factors in your life that cause the biggest changes. Frequent testing is the best way to help pin down the things that most affect your blood sugar and from there you can conquer them one at a time.