Main points
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High blood sugar in the morning may actually stem from habits from the night before.
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Taking a walk after dinner can help improve blood sugar, insulin sensitivity and sleep.
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It’s also important to eat an early, high-fiber dinner and monitor your blood sugar.
If you’re one of the 38.4 million people in the United States with diabetes, you may experience hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) in the morning. Morning high blood sugar, or fasting high blood sugar, can have a variety of causes, including hormones, decreased insulin, foods eaten at dinner and before bed, lack of sleep, and stress. If you notice your blood sugar rising in the morning, there’s one simple action that might help. Taking a walk after dinner is a simple nighttime ritual that can balance blood sugar.
Kaitlin Hippley, M.Ed., RDN, LD, CDCES, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, says, “Walking after dinner can help your body control postmeal blood sugar by encouraging your muscles to use glucose from the meal for energy. This simple habit can reduce nighttime high blood sugar, support more stable nighttime blood sugar, and improve overall blood sugar control.”
Read on to learn more about how this simple habit may improve your blood sugar in the morning, as well as other simple lifestyle changes to incorporate in the evening.
Why walking after dinner is the best habit to balance blood sugar
Exercise such as walking can help lower blood sugar by improving post-meal insulin sensitivity and prompting muscles to use glucose for energy. The more sensitive your cells are to insulin, the better your body can control blood sugar.
lower blood sugar
Elevated blood sugar before bed may carry over into the morning, especially if your nightly meal is higher in fat. Fat can delay blood sugar spikes and increase insulin resistance. Taking a walk after dinner is one way to keep your blood sugar within a healthy range before bed. When a muscle contracts, your cells absorb glucose and use it for energy, with or without insulin.
Improve insulin sensitivity
Dinner should contain some high-quality carbohydrates, which provide your body with energy and contribute to your overall fiber intake. After carbohydrates are consumed, they are broken down into glucose, which naturally increases blood sugar and produces insulin. Insulin is the hormone that carries glucose from the blood to cells for energy.
Of course, meals that contain carbohydrates, such as a burrito bowl with sweet potatoes and beans, can raise blood sugar. This is not a problem, but if your cells are resistant to insulin, your blood sugar may become too high. Taking a walk after dinner can use the glucose from your dinner to help improve the way your cells respond to insulin (increase insulin sensitivity). This can improve blood sugar both in the short term (morning) and in the long term (months ahead).
Reduce sleep disturbances
High blood sugar (high blood sugar) before bed can cause frequent trips to the bathroom, which can interfere with sleep. Getting seven to nine hours of good rest in the evening can improve how your body uses insulin, which affects blood sugar in the morning. Therefore, keeping blood sugar in a healthy range before bed can improve sleep and morning blood sugar. “Stable blood sugar before bed can help you reduce sleep disturbances caused by fluctuating blood sugar levels,” Shipley says.
Not only does walking help lower sleep blood sugar, regular exercise can also improve sleep quality, helping people fall asleep faster and for longer.
It’s a simple, sustainable and convenient way to exercise
Consistent exercise can have an impact on overall blood sugar management. An after-dinner walk is a simple, sustainable, and convenient form of exercise that most people can do in their neighborhood, on a treadmill, on a walking mat, or even around the house.
Other nighttime habits to improve blood sugar management
In addition to moving your body, there are other lifestyle and medication adjustments that can improve morning blood sugar.
Eat a high-fiber dinner
High-fiber foods like beans, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are digested slowly and help with blood sugar management. They also improve insulin sensitivity, allowing insulin to work.
Eating a high-fiber dinner can maintain blood sugar before bed and in the morning. An easy way to eat more fiber at dinner is to practice the plate method. Aim to fill your plate with half a non-starchy vegetable like spinach, kale, kale, or cauliflower, a quarter with a good carb like quinoa, brown rice, or whole-wheat bread, and the remaining quarter with a lean protein like beans, tofu, white meat chicken, or turkey.
Finally, high-fiber foods can increase feelings of fullness and reduce the chance of eating something sweet after dinner, a habit Shipley recommends limiting. “Avoid late-night sugary snacks, such as candy, desserts, or refined carbohydrates, as they can cause unnecessary spikes in blood sugar before bed or even during the night,” she says.
have dinner early
Lauren Plunkett, RDN, CDCES, a registered dietitian with type 1 diabetes, recommends: “Eat dinner early and fast for 10 to 12 hours as often as possible. Sleep is a ‘natural fast’ and the best time to improve insulin sensitivity. Allowing enough time for digestion before bed can greatly improve blood sugar levels in the morning. This habit can also improve average blood sugar levels over a long period of time.” If you are at risk for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), discuss longer fasting periods with your doctor before trying it on your own.
Monitor your blood sugar
Maybe you follow these lifestyle habits and no matter how healthy your behavior is, you wake up in the morning with high blood sugar. Now is a good time to try to identify the culprit. Check your blood sugar before bed and, if you take insulin, in the middle of the night to help you determine what’s going on and whether your insulin dose needs to be adjusted.
You may be experiencing something called the “Somogi effect,” which “occurs when blood sugar drops too low at night, and the body responds by releasing stress hormones, which signal the liver to produce and release glucose. This overcorrection may cause blood sugar levels to rise in the morning,” Shipley says.
Make sure your insulin dose/setting and medication are correct
Provide your data to your doctor; together you can develop a plan. Noticing certain patterns can provide your doctor with information about whether your medications or insulin need to be modified. For example, in people who take insulin, a decrease in insulin can cause blood sugar to rise overnight and remain high into the morning.
In addition, the body releases hormones such as cortisol and growth hormone in the early morning (called the dawn phenomenon), which signal the liver to promote glucose production, providing your body with energy and helping you wake up. This may cause blood sugar to spike in the morning, and adjusting your medication can help.
Our expert opinion
Walking after dinner is a simple, convenient, sustainable and evidence-based way to potentially improve morning blood sugar. Regular exercise is also important for overall health, mood, sleep, weight and long-term blood sugar management. Find a friend and get started. If you can’t get outside, consider using a treadmill or walking mat or walking around the house.
If you go for a walk after dinner and your blood sugar is still high in the morning, or if exercise causes your blood sugar to drop (hypoglycemia), consider other lifestyle habits. Could you increase the fiber in your dinner, improve your blood sugar before bed, sleep more, or fast for longer? No need to do all this trial and error alone. Please contact your healthcare provider or a certified diabetes care and education specialist. Together, you can investigate potential culprits and implement strategies that meet your individual needs.
Read the original article on EatWell