I need to admit something.
I’ve noticed that when someone asks how I am, or how my weekend was, or how work is going, I find myself saying something along the lines of “good thanks! I’m very tired though…”
Do you do this too?
I’m sure you’ve felt the pressure of being constantly busy, stressed and sleep deprived.
Modern life seems to glorify this – I wish it didn’t, but that’s another whole topic.
And I’m not a mum, but I bet that when you add growing a baby or raising children to an already long to-do list, you reach new levels of tired.
Anyway, I have been feeling particularly exhausted lately and it got me thinking about the role of sleep.
Aside from making you feel like a groggy, moody and unproductive zombie, sleep deprivation can actually cause chaos for your body.
Specifically, it can make regulating your blood glucose levels way harder than it needs to be, which is obviously a nightmare for gestational diabetes.
Things that can happen:
Changes to circulating hormones
This is really simplifying things, but basically after a poor night’s sleep, one of our key “hunger” hormones (ghrelin) increases, and one of our “satisfaction” hormones (leptin) decreases. This is associated with an increased intake of food during the day.
Fight or flight response
Sleep deprivation activates our sympathetic nervous system, which stimulates the release of cortisol and other inflammatory markers. This promotes the release of stored glucose into the blood stream to prepare us to either fight or run.
Changes to appetite
As well as feeling hungrier after a bad sleep, the type of food we crave changes.
Getting less than 5.5 hours of sleep is associated with an increased drive to eat refined high-carbohydrate and high-fat foods. So, biscuits, doughnuts, chocolate, chips. You get it.
This makes it much more difficult to stay consistent in eating the nutrient-dense foods that support optimal blood sugar levels.
Changes to insulin sensitivity
Sleep deprivation can have such a profound impact on our ability to tolerate glucose that it has been compared to having pre-diabetes. Big yikes. The pancreas doesn’t produce insulin as effectively, and cells become more resistant to its effect. Meaning that blood glucose levels go up.
Other factors
Additionally, it seems really important to make sure you have a reasonable bed time.
Meaning, if you get enough sleep but you’re a night owl (going to bed late and waking up late), you may also experience difficulties regulating your blood sugar levels.
And then being pregnant adds extra fuel to the fire, as hormones produced by the placenta are associated with a certain level of insulin resistance too.
So. When we combine all of those factors, sleep clearly needs to be something you prioritise.
And if you have gestational diabetes and feel like you’re eating the right things but still struggling with high blood sugar levels, this is one area it may be worth paying more attention to.
Personally, I know I need to work on making my night time routine a whole lot more wholesome.
Starting with, switching off my damn phone!
I encourage you to do the same.
x
