Your Brain on Type 2 Diabetes

 My topic today is "Your Brain on Type Two Diabetes".

As if you needed another reason to get your blood sugar into control, here they come.

Your brain uses glucose for fuel. It depends on a steady state of glucose for energy. When your blood sugar fluctuates really high or low, that causes problems in your brain that leads to problems of irritability, difficulty remembering things and even dementia or Alzheimer's.

When you have very low blood sugar, this is a really dangerous situation because first of all, your brain doesn't have enough fuel. So what happens you? You might get really loopy, you might get dizzy, you might have seizures, you might lose consciousness or fall into a coma, or worse. That is a very dangerous situation that you want to avoid for sure.

High blood sugar levels also cause problems because we know that sugar is inflammatory and damages nerves and blood vessels. Remember there are nerves and blood vessels in your brain. When you have damage to those blood vessels you get poor circulation. Now you're compromised in your brain function. People who have type two diabetes really have almost a double whammy for their risk of dementia. Everything that comes with metabolic syndrome, low HDL (the good cholesterol), high triglycerides or fats in the blood, high blood pressure, obesity, and of course diabetes is a risk factor for heart disease, dementia and more. When you have this combination of things, you're already at risk for dementia. Having your blood sugar out of range  adds another layer of risk.

One of the symptoms of high blood sugar is something called brain fog. This is where you might be irritable, moody and fatigued. You might have difficulty concentrating, trouble finding the right words and paying attention. You might feel foggy.

What are the steps you should take to not only avoid brain fog, but also these other problems in your brain?

1. First and foremost is getting your blood sugar in a good range. This is so important. How do you get there? Making sure that you follow a good diabetic meal plan. And that mainly means a low carb diet.
2. Get some movement, activity or exercise. Moving is so important. Even something as simple as walking helps because you are actually using some of the fuel that's already in your bloodstream, and maybe even getting into the stored fuel.
3. Finally, get good sleep. With poor sleep, your brain is affected, specifically your frontal lobe. This is the area that affects your decision making and your problem solving. These same areas are effected by brain fog.

You might have been prescribed some medication and/or insulin. Sometimes we get resistant to medication. We want to do things naturally. I totally understand. However, you can see that sometimes it takes a while to get blood sugar in control through life style changes. One of the things medication can do is to get you into control quicker. Then you can work on making the kinds of changes you need to make in your life to do it naturally.

When that happens, you can work with your doctor to either taper down the medication maybe come off it completely.

This Wednesday, April 13th, at 5:30 PM MST, I'm giving a free webinar on managing type two diabetes naturally. The link is here if you'd like to sign up. We're going to cover a lot of this stuff and it'll give you some ideas about what your next steps are around this.

I hope you'll join me. Thank you.

Dr. Elaine

Register HERE for the FREE webinar!

Download my free 30 Day Guide to Manage or Reverse Type 2 Diabetes 

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.

This episode was produced and marketed by the Get Known Service