Power to Prevent - National Diabetes Education Program - National ...

Appendix Z:
Stress
“ Stress”
is a term many people use to express how they feel when they are emotionally
upset, worried, or experiencing health problems such as illness or injury. When
stress occurs, the body prepares to take action. This preparation is called the fght-or-fight response.
In the fght-or-fight response, levels of many hormones shoot up. One effect of stress is to make a
lot of stored energy—glucose—available to cells. These cells are then primed to help the body get
away from danger.
In people who have diabetes, the fght-or-fight response can work against them by raising blood
glucose levels.
Many sources of stress are not short-term threats. For example, surgery is defnitely a stress, but it
can take many months to recover from it. In this case and others, stress hormones that are designed
to deal with short-term danger may stay turned on for a long time.
Many long-term sources of stress are mental. Like physical stress, mental stress can be shortterm—in
situations ranging from taking a test to getting stuck in a traffc jam. In many situations,
though—from working for a demanding boss to taking care of an aging parent—mental stress can be
long-term. In response to the constant mental stress, the body pumps out stress hormones, but this
process is not very helpful in these long-term situations.
How Stress Affects Diabetes
In people with diabetes, stress can alter blood glucose levels. It does so in two ways. First, people
under stress may not take good care of themselves. They may eat more, drink alcohol excessively or
be less physically active. They may forget, or feel that they do not have time, to check their glucose
levels or to plan good meals. Second, stress hormones may alter blood glucose levels directly.
Stress and Personality
You have some control over your reaction to stress. For some people with diabetes, controlling
stress with relaxation therapy seems to help. Try different coping styles for the stressful situations in
your life.
A coping style is how a person deals with stress. For example, some people have a problem-solving
attitude. They say to themselves, “What can I do about this problem?” They try to change their
situation to get rid of the stress.
Other people fnd a way to accept a situation they cannot change. They say to themselves, “I can
live with this,” or even, “This problem isn’t really so bad after all.”
Can you think of examples of how you have used these coping skills in your life? Can you think of
ways to cope with your current stressors?
NDEP Power to Prevent Appendices 93