Hardwired for Fear: Impact on Type 2 Diabetes

You've heard of 'fight or flight.’ Fear is all about survival. Way back in the day, if something's coming after you, you'll either stand and fight or you'll run. Your body is hardwired to make this happen.

When we get that fear response, it alerts our sympathetic nervous system and it takes over. Then what happens?

Any activity that's happening in the body that is not directly related with survival is shut down. So there's no reproduction going on. There's no digestion going on. Anything that does not relate to RIGHT NOW is shut down.

Our pupils dilate to allow in more light. Our lungs dilate to allow more air flow. Our heart starts beating faster for more blood flow. The blood vessels in our legs and arms dilate so we have good blood flow as we are running or fighting for our lives. Our liver puts more stored glucose into our system for plenty of fuel.

Whichever we decide to do, our bodies are prepared. Now, whenever we get a fear response, our body goes into that same process!

Here's the thing about fear. We respond in the same way, whether we are in real physical danger or we just think we are.  The body can't tell the difference between imagining a fearful situation and actually being in one. 

This same scenario plays out when you have a lot of fear around diabetes. In addition to the physical changes that happen in preparation for fight or flight, we secrete copious amounts of cortisol – our stress hormone. For people with diabetes, that leads to high blood sugar no matter what you are eating. 

Fear can be innate, which is maybe some sort of an evolutionary survival process. This is what happened to me. I've been genetically programmed to be fearful. This is known as generational fear. We’ll hear more about that another time.

It could be a learned experience perhaps from some trauma we've experienced at in our lives. There are a lot of triggers for fear. It could be snakes or spiders. It could be fear of heights or fear of being in a plane. It could be an experience of a future event that we don't know exactly what's going to happen. 

It could be a fear of diabetic complications that are, unfortunately, inevitable if diabetes is poorly controlled. Could this be a motivator for you? If you ask yourself how important your eyesight is or that your kidneys function properly or your feet, would that answer be enough to get you moving in the direction of better blood sugar control? 

Fear can be disabling, completely throwing you for a loop, unable to move forward and make change. Or, it can be enabling, “pushing” you to make different choices to get into better control. 

There's hope for sure. There are lots of ways of working with fear. I’ll talk about more about those as we go through this month.

Dr Elaine

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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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