Waking Up In the Middle of the Night? It Could Be Your Blood Sugar!
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to get your blood sugar under control. Imbalanced blood sugar negatively impacts your metabolism, hormones, stress response, brain function, cardiovascular health, mental health, microbiome, and yes, your sleep! Balanced blood sugar is imperative for every part of the body.
If you find yourself falling asleep fine, but waking every night around 2, 3, or 4 a.m., blood sugar may be to blame. When your blood glucose level dips too low, as is common in the middle of the night, the stimulating hormones cortisol and glucagon are released. Glucagon signals the liver to convert stored glycogen into glucose, which is released into the bloodstream, bringing your blood sugar back up. Since cortisol is stimulating, it’s no wonder that you wake up when this happens. Often times, you have trouble falling back asleep.
The way to prevent this is to make sure you’re balancing your blood sugar throughout the day. That means carefully considering your macronutrient intake at each meal. (There are three macronutrients: carbohydrates, protein, and fat.) You should eat three solid meals per day (or less), and not need to snack throughout the day. If you can’t make it from one meal to the next without snacking, then you’re either not eating enough, or your macro’s aren’t balanced.
I refrain from making blanket recommendations about what macronutrient levels should be because everyone’s needs are different. Some of us need more fat than others, some of us need more carbohydrates, and some of us need more protein. Even our own individual needs will change over the months and years.
If you feel like you need to eat all day, or that you get jittery or ravenous in between meals, you might need the support of a qualified practitioner to help you fine tune you’re eating habits. For some of us, it can be more complicated. Many other things influence our metabolism and how we handle our food: hormone levels, inflammation, gut health, infections, stress, or just our crazy modern lifestyles. Some of us may need professional help to sort through the confusion and identify the best strategies to improve overall health status.
When you address the whole body and begin to implement an appropriate eating style for your specific needs, you’ll naturally start to experience more stable blood sugar throughout the day and night. This is a beautiful thing! Not only will your sleep improve, but you may notice more energy, sharper focus, a better mood, less inflammation, and overall better health. What’s not to love about that!
This is just one of many important habits you can implement to help you sleep better. If you’re serious about improving your sleep and you want to dive even deeper, consider scheduling a health consultation with us. We’ll help you identify all the areas you can improve on and teach you specific, tangible steps you can do today to get a better night’s sleep tonight. You deserve it! Call us today, we always love to hear from you!
Cathy Cooke, BCHN, BBEC Holistic Nutritionist and Building Biologist is the founder of Whole Home and Body Health which provides EMF Assessments, Mold Testing, and Nutrition and Health Consulting located in Boise, Idaho. Cathy is available for consulting via skype and phone, and is also willing to travel as needed for home assessments. Schedule an appointment today!