blood sugar and insomnia

Posted , 6 users are following.

For almost 4 months now I've been experiencing on going night time symptoms where I'll wake up anywhere from 130am - 530am. 

Around 6am I can fall asleep again for another couple of hours. I've been recording all my waking up times and how I feel. My average waking up time at night is anywhere between 2am and 4am.

Last few nights I've woken up between at like 2am - 3am after just one hour of sleep and can't get back to sleep, this is seriously frustrating. I don't feel hungry or having any cravings as such but I'll wake up feeling like I've just slept 7-8 hours! And then the weird thing is, is that I hardly ever even feel tired throughout the rest of the day. Makes no sense. So during the day time and waking hours I'm fine. Now I did hear that imbalanced blood sugar levels can cause these kind of erratic sleeping patterns and middle of the night insomnia where you'll awake at like 3am due to your BS levels crashing. Is this correct?  I checked my blood sugar levels back in Jan after meals during the day and it was normal. 

I don't have any other symptoms really (although yesterday I was feeling a bit spaced out on and off). 

 

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • Posted

    You could go to the doctor and have a diabetic test done. Then at least you will know for sure.

    Take care and keep in touch

    Sarah

  • Posted

    Hi Ru, I care for my mother who is Type II. I find she has difficulty sleeping. She also gets very hungry at night and craves sugar. I had attributed much of this to her additional thyroid condition. However, her acupuncturist felt that it is related to liver function. We’ve had extremely good results with acupuncturecalong with strict diet and a variety of supplememts.
    • Posted

      PS- I don’t recall all the exact deatails, so you might want to do some research...  liver function is related to blood sugar levels, and can be more active at night. Liver is responsible for glucagon production, which can actually result in elevated blood sugar levels during fasting (or night time periods)  for people with diabetic issues.  The elevated blood sugar could be keeping you awake. 

      You could get a glucometer and test at night.

  • Posted

    Sleep can affect your blood sugar levels, and your blood glucose control can also affect your sleep.  It’s a vicious cycle. As the amount of sleep decreases, blood sugar increases, escalating the issue. Lack of sleep has been shown to increase blood sugar levels and the risk of diabetic issues. Higher blood sugar means less long-lasting fat metabolism in the night and even less sleep.
  • Posted

    Check your thyroid and have a diabetics test done. My mother in law also facing such kind of problem. Let me know ur feedback soon.
    • Posted

      Hi, what's interesting is that since I first posted this my sleep gradually improved and I was getting adequate sleep most nights. Last month or so has been excellent, have been mostly sleeping through but suddenly this week for the past 4 nights now I've started waking up again around the 2am 230am mark, basically only about 2 hours after first falling asleep.

      I haven't changed my diet. Sure I have things on my mind and go to sleep with anxieties and worries but that's nothing new.

  • Posted

    What's interesting is that since I first posted this my sleep gradually improved and I was getting adequate sleep most nights. Last month or so has been excellent, have been mostly sleeping through but suddenly this week I've started waking up again around the 2am 230am mark, basically only about 2 hours after first falling asleep

  • Posted

    I thought I'd update this thread. 

    So since I last posted, from around the end of March my sleep improved. I was sleeping through more nights than not and this waking up in the middle of the night seemed to end.  I didn't really change my diet or anything, if anything I have and am still trying to decrease my overall sugar intake.  So that's almost two months of much better sleep patterns, at least they were less erratic.  

    But now for the past 4/5 nights it's back! On Monday I woke up at 2am, the next night again at 230am, last night at 215am and so on after just an hour or two of sleep. And it's that wide awake feeling where I cannot get back to sleep. Eventually I do get back to sleep around 5am and manage to sleep for a few hours so thankfully I'm not too sleep deprived and still feel largely well rested. 

    Anyway this is frustrating. I do have alot of worries and frustrations at the moment but like I said before I've had these for many years. Also although I do have a fairly large tea/coffee intake every day, I haven't changed this intake so it can't be my diet.  No other symptoms really.  Urination patterns more or less normal, no tiredness, hunger, thirst etc. 

    So why am I sleeping well for weeks and then suddenly not sleeping well again with the middle of the night insomnia returning?

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