Diabetes and Stress Connection

By >> Sarfraz Zaidi

Stress-Diabetes Connection- Is there any and what is the mechanism? While there are several factors that contribute to the development of diabetes, stress is an important one. 

Type 2 Diabetes

About 95% of diabetics suffer from Type 2 diabetes, which occurs due to a process in the body called insulin resistance. Stress is a major cause for insulin resistance. Obesity is another important culprit for insulin resistance. Stress Eating is the main underlying cause for obesity. In this way, stress significantly contributes to a person's obesity and risk for developing diabetes.

Insulin resistance is a process in the body which causes insulin, a chemical in your body, to be less effective in keeping your blood sugar normal. Consequently, your body produces more insulin in order to keep your blood sugar normal. This compensatory increase in the amount of insulin may control your blood sugar for a while, but it's harmful for the rest of the body. Large amounts of insulin can raise your blood pressure and increase your risk for cancer. Insulin resistance also increases your risk for heart attacks and strokes.

After many years of escalating insulin resistance, eventually your insulin producing cells in the pancreas get exhausted and cannot churn out the huge amounts of insulin. At this point, your blood sugar starts to rise and you end up being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes

Type I diabetes is the other type of diabetes. It is much less common, accounting for about 5% of diabetics.