If you're waking up in the morning and your blood sugars are high and you're just wondering why,
what is going on? I'm going to answer that for you in this video. I'm going
to explain why our sugars might be high in the morning, what process is involved
and what you can do to help get those sugars down into a more normal range.
Hello and welcome back to the channel. Now, in one of my previous videos,
I talked about insulin resistance, and I talked about a novel way that you can
help lower your blood sugar, and there was a very interesting question that came up
in the comments on that video as to why glucose would be high in the morning.
By the way, I love reading the comments and questions, and often it gives me ideas for
future videos. This channel is here to serve you, so if you do have questions, don't be surprised if
that pops up in a future video because often the questions that you're asking are questions that
a lot of people have, so it really helps me and please keep the comments and questions coming!
Now when we're referring to type two diabetes, we know that this is largely a problem of insulin
resistance. With Type one diabetes, we see the actual destruction of the beta cells and the
pancreas that are responsible for producing insulin. But type two diabetes is different,
and the prominent feature of Type two diabetes, as I said, is insulin resistance.
But another feature is that we see high sugars in the morning and we actually see
the liver producing sugar overnight. So I'm going to explain the process behind this,
and I'm also going to give you some key tools that you can use to help to maintain a better
blood sugar reading in the morning. Now, sometimes this can involve medications,
but there are also non-pharmacological or non-drug measures that you can do yourself
that do not involve medication that will have a positive impact on your blood sugar and therefore
your A1C, which is your measurement of blood glucose over a period of about three months,
which is fairly standardized method that we use to help measure how your body is
managing type two diabetes. Let's start by talking about the liver.
Your liver is a very important organ that does a lot of things to keep you healthy.
One of the things that it does is it produces glucose. Now glucose is the
main source of energy for your body, but sometimes your body needs more glucose
than what's available in your bloodstream and so that's where the liver comes in.
The liver can produce glucose and then release it into your bloodstream when you need it. Now
remember that one of the issues with type two diabetes is insulin resistance. So this
doesn't mean that there's not enough sugar in the bloodstream. But what happens is your cells become
less responsive to that sugar, and your cells are unable to take this sugar into the cell.
And so the cells start releasing signs that say to the body,
“I need more sugar. I need more energy for the tasks that I have to do today.”
And the liver will receive the signal and it will understand that it needs to start
producing sugar. Now the liver produces sugar through a process called gluconeogenesis.
This process starts with a breakdown of non-carbohydrate compounds, such as amino
acids from proteins, lactate from muscles, and glycerol from fats. These compounds are
converted into glucose which is then released into the bloodstream. Now, the main function
of gluconeogenesis is to provide glucose to the brain and to other tissues that need it.
Importantly, your brain does not have a way of storing glucose, and so your brain needs this
supply of glucose in order to maintain its proper function. The liver is the main organ responsible
for gluconeogenesis. However, the kidneys and the small intestine do produce this to a lesser
extent. So when you have type two diabetes, your cells can't use glucose properly, even if
there's enough insulin in your bloodstream, and that means that the glucose that your
liver produces overnight cannot be used by your cells, and it starts to accumulate in the blood.
So when someone has type two diabetes and they're prescribed medication, the types of
medications that we use are usually a way to help the cells recognize and uptake the glucose that
is in the bloodstream more effectively. Other medications help the pancreas to release more
insulin. However, this doesn't really seem to be the most effective way to treat type two diabetes.
Some of the newer medications are really focusing on the issue of insulin resistance
and helping to really capture the glucose that's in the bloodstream and get it into
the cell more effectively. There are other things that can definitely help with type
two diabetes. Lifestyle changes such as eating a low carbohydrate diet has been showing excellent
evidence to even reverse type two diabetes in some cases. Exercise is also a very important factor,
and weight loss can also be beneficial and help to improve Type two diabetes outcomes. One of the
issues with type two diabetes is it can be a very silent disease. So a person can be suffering from
microvascular and macrovascular issues from type two diabetes, and they may not essentially feel
anything but sometimes on an eye exam the Doctor will pick up some kind of microvascular damage.
Sometimes we see issues with the kidneys or we start to see protein in the urine, or even sugar
in the urine and this can all be a sign that the body is having an issue with insulin resistance
and high blood sugar and if this cannot be treated with lifestyle measures like diet and exercise,
you really do need some type of intervention to help to prevent any permanent damage in the body.
As I've said, when your blood sugar stays high for a prolonged period of time, it can start to
have very negative consequences on your eyes, your kidneys, and even your heart. It can even affect
nerves and cause nerve damage, which is why we do see people who have diabetes who end up with foot
ulcers or loss of sensation in different parts of the body because it can damage nerves.
High blood sugar is also an issue because it can decrease immunity and decrease your
body's ability to fight off infection. It decreases the activity of certain cells
called phagocytes that are responsible for eliminating different pathogens and
fighting off infection in the body. So this is definitely something that needs to be dealt with,
and you really do need to get those sugars down in order to maintain a healthy body
and maintain your body's ability to fight off even minimal infections.
So if you have type two diabetes and you are noticing that your sugars are high in the morning,
you can definitely start to implement lifestyle measures like exercise. Even walking for 20
minutes a day can have a big impact. Eating a healthy, balanced diet, getting exercise,
and importantly also stopping smoking, which is not easy, but it can be done are
very effective things that you can do to help prevent complications from type two diabetes.
Also, you may want to talk to your doctor about medications. Sometimes
these medications can be used for a shorter period of time while you
implement other lifestyle measures. They don't have to be used for your lifetime,
but sometimes they do just help to prevent any further damage from sustained hyperglycemia.
So there you have it. The liver is working during the night, and if it's getting the signal
that your cells are not getting enough sugar, it's going to dump sugar into the bloodstream
overnight. And you're going to wake up in the morning even before eating any breakfast
or any carbs of any kind, and you're going to wonder why your sugars are high in the morning.
So someone who has managed their diabetes well will start to notice that their blood
sugars in the morning are coming down and that can be managed with medication
or lifestyle factors. Often both are very helpful and they can help you to
prevent the complications from type two diabetes that can sometimes be lifelong.
If you'd like to know more about type two diabetes and even type two diabetes reversal,
there is some excellent research that has been released recently, and I will also
put some resources for you. I hope this has been helpful and I hope that it's answered
that viewer question. Keep the questions coming. Thank you so much for joining me.
Take care and stay healthy. Bye-bye.