Diabetes and Sleep Problems: Causes and Treatment Options

There’s nothing like good night sleep, but if you live with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, that’s easier to say than to say.

There are many ways that diabetes can affect your sleep quality. In reality, it is very important not only to “bear” but not to sleep too little as part of your life, as it can wreak havoc on your diabetes.

Let’s take a look at all the ways diabetes can affect your sleep (and lack of sleep can affect your diabetes), and see what you can do about it.

How Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemia affect sleep

Blood sugar fluctuates can easily keep you up all night.

Wake up in the middle of the night with hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia not only leaves you from the time you should be sleeping, but it can also make you groggy and fight against hyperglycemia the next day from an increase in cortisol.

Consistent hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia means that diabetic medications need to be adjusted immediately.

Hypoglycemia

Hypoglycemia You can easily wake up in the middle of the night. You may be low enough to be covered in sweat, and you are just beginning to soak low, and your body is warning you more subtlely.

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), symptoms of hypoglycemia include:

Feeling unstable
I’m nervous or worried
Sweat, chills, rather
Irritated or anxious
confusion
Fast Heartbeat
Feeling unwell or dizzy
Hungry
nausea
Color that drains from the skin (pall)
I feel sleepy
Feel weak or lacking energy
Vision impairment/disability
Twitching and numbness on the lips, tongue, or cheeks
headache
Adjustment issues, clumsy
Nightmares and screams while sleeping
Crucifixion

Hypoglycemia can be that you have too much insulin for dinner or generally too much insulin. If you are taking non-insulin drugs that lower your blood glucose levels (such as metformin or Victorza), and if you are experiencing normal hypoglycemia, you may need a lower dose.

If you lose weight, improve your diet, or start exercising regularly, you can naturally improve your sensitivity to insulin, so it’s not necessary, especially when you need it during your sleep. (Remember, even quick insulin will stay in your body for about 4 hours. This means that insulin taken at 9pm can easily cause hypoglycemia at 1am.)

Hyperglycemia

Hyperglycemia doesn’t have the same unpleasant “urgent” feelings associated with midnight hypoglycemia, but it can interfere with good night sleep, especially as hyperglycemia can cause the necessary urination every few hours.

If you wake up in the middle of the night and are desperately thirsty and generally uncomfortable, check your blood sugar levels.

Catching that high blood sugar in the middle of the night and taking a corrective dose of insulin means you have the opportunity to get better sleep to wake up with the remaining time in your target range.

However, consistently hyperglycemia during sleep is a sign that insulin administration or other non-insulin drugs need to be adjusted.

Tips for managing overnight hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia

Consult your medical team as soon as possible about adjusting your medication dosage
Consider getting Continuous glucose monitor To help you keep more eyes on your overnight blood sugar trends, and to keep you safer while you sleep.
Remember that hypoglycemia is not an opportunity to eat everything in the kitchen. This can make it difficult to fall asleep and lead to rebounding high blood sugar by the morning.
Keeps fast-acting glucose close to the bed, including juice boxes, glucose tabs, smarty and pixie sticks, and treats hypoglycemia quickly and efficiently.
If you are taking insulin to correct for hyperglycemia, carefully calculate the corrected dose based on the number of points at which one unit of insulin lowers blood glucose levels. At 300 mg/dL, if one unit of insulin lowers blood glucose by 25 points, you will need at least six units of insulin to collapse below 150 mg/dL.

Read more about the best ways to treat hypoglycemia quickly without overeating.

How lack of sleep affects diabetes

Too little sleep can cause physical and mental stress throughout your body. Sleep not only provides rest to your bones and muscles, but also helps to rest, recover and essentially heal your brain from work that day.

A day of too little sleep is not a big deal, but sleep too little on a regular basis will ultimately cost you.

Your body can respond to inadequate sleep in several ways.

Increased hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline can diminish sensitivity to insulin, cause the liver, and produce more glucose
Increased appetite to compensate for fatigue.
Increased weight gain, blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar levels
It increases irritability that can affect your work and school performance.
Increased depression and anxiety as your brain doesn’t get the recovery time needed to function properly
Lower sex drive and fertility rate

Other sleep disorders related to diabetes

Living with diabetes can increase your risk of experiencing several other common and unusual sleep disorders.

Sleep apnea

Sleep apnea (also known as “obstructive sleep apnea” or “OSA”) is very common in people with diabetes, especially those suffering from obesity or overweight.

OSA is defined by a long pause of breathing while sleeping. To qualify, breathing pause must be at least 10 seconds. National Sleep Foundation. This is the result of partially completely closing or closing of throat muscles for various periods of sleep.

If you share your bed with your partner, they may have commented so far about your loud, uninterrupted snoring.

The National Sleep Foundation lists the following common signs and symptoms of sleep apnea:

Chronic snoring
I’m always feeling sleep deprived
It’s difficult to concentrate
depression
I’m irritated
Sexual dysfunction
Difficulty in learning and memory
Falling asleep during normal daytime activities
Sleeping hindrance

If you ignore it, it can lead to a variety of other issues.

Unprocessed sleep apnea results

Daytime fatigue and fog
Hypertension
Heart arrhythmia
Congestive heart failure
Heart attack
stroke
Depression and mood problems
Memory issues
Insulin resistance
Increased risk of type 2 diabetes
Drunk driving

Tips for managing sleep apnea

If you think you are struggling with sleep apnea, you should ask your primary care physician to refer you to a sleep research. This sounds even more scary. Basically, you sleep in an inpatient facility, so that a medical professional can allow you to observe your breathing while you are asleep.

If you are eligible for sleep apnea, there are various options for treating and managing sleep apnea.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Device: A mask that covers the mouth and nose and supplies air to keep the airway open during sleep
Oral Pressure Therapy (OPT): Similar to CPAP devices, but in the absence of a mask, this treatment is a mouthpiece that supplies air to keep your throat open properly during sleep.
Nominal Positive Airway Pressure (EPAP): This device covers the nostrils and covers disposable adhesion values that can leave the airway open.
Dental appliances for rearranging the jaw and tongue
Upper airway surgery to remove excess tissue: If you have anatomical facial abnormalities, surgically correct them and keep your jaw and throat open properly during sleep.
Lose Weight: Weight loss can have a major impact on sleep apnea. If you are reluctant to use your device, make sleep the necessary motivation to lose weight.
Avoid, reduce or limit alcohol intake
Stop smoking
Sleep on the side, not on your back

Don’t ignore sleep apnea! That may not seem like a big deal – you snore a little, right? It’s wrong. This sleep problem is very destructive for the rest of your health. Take it head on.

Restless leg syndrome

Also known as “Willis Ekbomb’s disease,” restless leg syndrome (RLS) is usually the most hampering to getting quality sleep.

“Symptoms generally occur late in the afternoon or evening, and are most severe on nights when a person is resting, such as sitting or lying down in bed,” explains the National Institutes of Health. “Moving your legs or walking reduces discomfort, but feeling often recurs when you stop moving.”

Potential causes of RLS

Research has found a link between dopamine and RLS.

“Dopamine is required to produce smooth, purposeful muscle activity and movement. The disruption of these pathways often leads to involuntary movement.”

The dysfunction can be in the production of dopamine or the production of your body’s ability to properly use available dopamine.

RLS is also a symptom of greater health problems, including:

End-stage renal disease and hemodialysis
Anemia (iron deficiency)
Side effects from the medication you are taking, such as nausea, depression, mental illness, colds, allergy medications
Consumption of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine
The final pregnancy
Neuropathy

There are various treatment options used to alleviate RLS, but the first step is to properly identify the cause of RLS. If the cause is low iron levels, this can be easily handled with iron supplements.

If the cause is your alcohol consumption, you should avoid alcohol if you want to eliminate or alleviate symptoms.

Look at the potential causes of restless leg syndrome and work with your healthcare team to determine which causes your body most likely.

Neuropathy

The burning and tingling associated with neurological disorders is enough to drive people crazy, not to mention maintaining them at night. The symptoms of neuropathy that are painful, incredibly uncomfortable and impossible to ignore are unbearable.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) estimates that about half of diabetic patients suffer from certain amounts of neurological disorders.

Peripheral neuropathy is most common among people with diabetes. Also known as “diabetic neuropathy” or “PN,” it occurs when severe nerve damage occurs in the hands, fingers, toes, feet, feet, and/or arms.

These areas have a limited blood flow that exacerbates symptoms and puts the happiness of that part of your body at risk, making it difficult to get proper fresh blood

The most common symptoms of peripheral neuropathy include:

combustion
It’s tingling
Nervous
“Freezing” pain
Sharp “electric” stab wound
Very sensitive to touch
Ultimately, loss of emotions
Final loss of muscle balance in the affected area
Final weakness of affected muscles

If you believe you are experiencing symptoms of an undiagnosed neuropathy, consult your healthcare team as soon as possible.

Tips for managing neuropathy

Are you taking medication for neuralgia? Gabapentin is the most commonly prescribed to help relieve and reduce neuralgia. It also causes a little crudeness, which can help you sleep more.

Reducing alcohol intake, stop smoking and improving your overall diet will affect the severity and further development of neuropathy.

Another important part of managing neuropathy is lowering blood sugar levels into a healthier range. If you have been diagnosed with neuropathy but haven’t improved your blood sugar levels yet, this should be the ultimate focus of your time and effort.

It improves sleep, improves symptoms, and reduces the risk of ultimately needing amputation if small cuts or blisters on the feet become infected.

How to improve your sleep quality

Getting a good night’s sleep is not as easy as always to close your eyes and want the best. Instead, there is a lot you can do and you can avoid getting enough sleep.

As someone with diabetes, it’s not easy to sleep soundly!

Talk to your healthcare team about increasing the “high alarm” on continuous glucose monitors and reducing the frequency of interruptions
Talk to your medical team about improving your overnight blood sugar and insulin dose to ensure a better sleep
Keeps glucose acting fast next to your bed and treats midnight lows Please don’t You can eat everything in front of you in the kitchen
Check your blood sugar level every night before going to bed
Use colours, curtains, etc. to darken the bedroom.
Do not take the phone to bed
Do not stare at your phone/computer screen during the last hour before bed
Use a fan-based noise machine for natural white noise
Create your own rituals: 5 minutes of yoga, relaxing music, hot showers, and more.
Avoid high sugar diets just before going to bed
Identify known habits that interfere with sleep