It has been shown that both mental and physical stress can alter blood glucose levels in people with diabetes. People under stress may not take good care of themselves, they may forget, or not have time to check their glucose levels or plan good meals. Stress hormones may also alter blood glucose levels directly; people with type 2 diabetes being more sensitive to some of these hormones.

Does mental stress affect your glucose levels? If so, how did you find this out?

Has an illness or injury affected your glucose levels? How did you deal with this?

Do you have relaxation or other stress-lowering techniques to share?

My favorite way to decrease stress is to take 5-10 deep breaths. We can do this anywhere, at any time. Focus on your breath as you inhale slowly to fully expand your lungs. Then slowly exhale, focusing on relaxing and releasing tension.

Take a moment to practice these deep breaths right now, and I bet you'll feel better!

I get stressed with my kids a lot (I have two teens!), and it definitely makes my blood sugar go up. I've noticed that even when I'm eating the same and getting the same amount of exercise, my readings when testing will be 20-30 points higher under a lot of stress.

What helps me the most is to find some "me" time. Sometimes it's after the kids go to bed, or before they wake up - or sometimes I just get out on my own for an errand and take a bit more time than I would normally need. Just some time away from all the responsibilities and problems makes a huge difference in my stress levels and my mood.

Those are great suggestions. The breathing really does help! I also like journaling, writing down the things that are most on my mind. Sometimes it's a "to-do" list, and sometimes I just rant and then throw the paper away!

I forgot about journaling! I do that too, but not usually a to-do list, as that tends to stress me out more (I'd prefer to not know all the things I need to do!). I do find it helpful though to just write my thoughts out privately. It seems to help to put things in perspective for me.

I love your reminder that we all need to take some 'me time'! Busy moms often have a habit of taking care of everybody else first, and our own needs and priorities are often dead last. Figuring out how we can carve out some much-needed and much-deserved 'me time' is essential not only to good blood sugar control, but also for our peace of mind! Plus, I really believe that by modeling stress management techniques for our kids, we're teaching them how to effectively deal with a hectic and stressful world.

My 'me time' is early morning running or mid-afternoon bike rides. Nothing like quiet and the wind rushing past my head to clear my mind!