5 Tips to Handle Anxiety and Depression with Diabetes

Many people suffer from some degree of depression or anxiety. What happens when you're in that state, and you're trying to deal with these feelings, a lot of people will start to eat poorly, meaning maybe they eat a lot of sugar or a lot of fast food, or comfort food to try to make themselves feel better. Sometimes they turn to alcohol or drugs to kind of self-medicate and separate themselves somewhat from their feelings. And they're probably not sleeping very well.

For people with diabetes, these things can really interfere with blood sugar control. We know that that's going to mess up a lot of things. It's going to certainly mess up your blood sugar control. Your blood sugar could be low and it could be high. And those changes in blood sugar can affect anxiety and depression and make it worse. So it becomes a vicious cycle.

People who have diabetes are 20% more likely to have anxiety. When you have anxiety, you're going to have a lot of hormonal changes. You've got cortisol and, and other hormones that are going to impact not only how you feel, but also your blood sugar.

All of these things need to be managed in a way that's going to help you stay more stable and take better care of yourself. So here are five things that you can do.

One meditate. Now, does that mean you have to sit quietly for an hour, cross-legged on the floor? Nope. Not necessarily. Even if you just meditate for five minutes or as long as you can. That's completely fine. And meditation is about turning inward, kind of closing down your thoughts a little bit and just really trying to be quiet.

The second thing that you can do in addition to meditation. Is mindful breathing. This is a little more outward focused, and I think a little easier for people to do as long as they can remember. And that is simply focusing on your breath.

So when we're wound up and you feel really anxious, you're usually fretting about the past, or really not knowing what's going to happen in the future. Like what if, what if, what if….

So by breathing, just focusing on your breath, simply like 10 breaths, it can bring you right into the present moment and you'll be surprised how much calmer you feel.

Number two, reach out and connect with a friend or with a professional. Somebody you feel comfortable talking to about how you feel. And their job is not to fix you or to give you direction or guidance. Their job is just to listen. Because many times, all we have to do is get our thoughts out of our mind and talk about them and things can calm down a bit.

Three, do something you love, read a book, go out in nature, do a puzzle, anything that's going to get you out of your head so that you can really kind of stop the swirling and just calm down. And you you'll be surprised at how much clearer you can be even a little bit when you are done with whatever you're doing, your project.

Four, avoid alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant. So if you're already depressed and you take alcohol, it's going to make things a lot worse. And try to limit or avoid caffeine. Caffeine can make you anxious and make your anxiety worse. So trying to limit or avoid those two things would be very helpful. At least when you're in the throes of things.

And finally, check your blood sugar! When your blood sugar is high or low, it can contribute to those feelings. And really, the only thing you need to do is bring your blood sugar back into control and you'll feel better.

So those are the five things. And of course, on top of that, I encourage you to eat well, drink plenty of water and get some movement, even some walking, a little bit of exercise, and sleep.

Those things are going to really help you feel better and more clear.

I invite you to download my free 30 day guide to managing or reversing your type two diabetes. I hope that you'll enjoy it and learn a lot from it. Just click the link below and you can download it.

Thank you so much for listening.

Dr. Elaine

Click here for 30 Day Guide
https://www.drelainestewart.com/30-day-guide

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider for advice about a specific medical condition.

Dr. Elaine

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider for advice about a specific medical condition.

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