Tips for How to Lower Blood Sugar Naturally
High blood sugar, also known as hyperglycemia, is commonly associated with diabetes and prediabetes. While your body is supposed to manage blood sugar levels through the production of insulin, there are a wide variety of factors that can lead to insulin production impairment or unchecked regulation of blood sugar.
Blood sugar management is important for everyone, but especially important in those living with diabetes or prediabetes. To help you along your way, we’re exploring tips for how to lower blood sugar naturally with a few simple lifestyle adjustments.
As always, consult your doctor before beginning any new health routines and to develop a plan for treating high blood sugar levels together.
What Is Diabetes? And Prediabetes?
The Center for Disease Control defines diabetes as, “a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy.” Simply put, when you eat food it is broken down into sugar called glucose. As your glucose levels rise, it signals your body to produce insulin, a natural hormone that regulates blood sugar levels and acts as a sort of key to let sugar into cells for use as energy.
If you’re living with diabetes, your body is either not making enough insulin to lower blood sugar naturally or isn’t using it properly, resulting in hyperglycemia. When blood sugar levels rise, it can lead to heightened risk for health complications such as heart disease, vision problems, kidney disease, and even threaten the loss of limbs (most commonly the feet or legs).
Prediabetes is when you’re living with higher-than-normal blood sugar levels, but not quite high enough yet to be fully diagnosed with diabetes. Both conditions are quite common, with an estimated 13% of adults in the United States being diagnosed with diabetes and another 34% being prediabetic.
Ways to Lower Blood Sugar Naturally
Finding natural ways to lower blood sugar and regulate it more efficiently should likely be at the top of your priority list if you’re living with diabetes or prediabetes. While it’s essential to consult your doctor regarding medical decisions for your diagnosis, there are a number of potential ways to lower blood sugar naturally that may work for you.
These tips for how to lower blood sugar naturally and take control over your health include:
- Exercising regularly
- Following a healthy diet
- Staying hydrated
- Manage stress levels
- Get better quality sleep
Exercise to Lower Blood Sugar Naturally
One of the easiest natural ways to lower blood sugar is to start exercising regularly. Being more active can help you maintain a healthy weight as well as increase insulin sensitivity in your body. Increased sensitivity means your cells may be able to more effectively use sugar within the bloodstream for energy and help lower blood sugar naturally. Exercise has also been shown to help muscles use blood sugar for energy and muscle contraction.
You don’t have to suddenly be running marathons in order to lower blood sugar naturally, however. Being more active can be as easy as breaking up your workday with exercises to do at work to stay loose, going for a brisk walk after dinner, or engaging in any activity to elevate your heart rate for 30 minutes each day.
There are even full body workout exercises you can do from a recliner, if you want! Not every recliner is created equally, however, so make sure you’re using one like a zero gravity recliner that can provide potential health benefits while avoiding the shortcomings of their traditional recliner counterparts. Finding ways to double up on physical activity and a post workout recovery routine may help those living with diabetes and prediabetes.
Diet for High Blood Sugar Regulation
Another simple lifestyle change that could help lower blood sugar naturally is following a healthy diet. Changes like eating more fiber, monitoring your carb intake, and choosing foods to combat micronutrient deficiencies (specifically chromium and magnesium) may boost your body's ability to manage blood sugar levels.
You should also be considering foods with a low glycemic index. The glycemic index is a value assigned to different foods based on how quickly and high they increase blood glucose levels. Ranked from a scale of 0 to 100, these foods are categorized in low, medium, and high groupings. Eating low glycemic index foods may help lower blood sugar levels naturally and circumvent hyperglycemic complications.
Examples of foods with a low glycemic index level include:
- Plain yogurt or whole milk
- Fruits like strawberries and apples
- Beans and legumes
- Non-starchy vegetables like broccoli
- Nuts such as cashews
- Dark chocolate with more than 70% cocoa
Speaking to a doctor or nutritionist is a great way to develop a healthy diet plan to lower blood sugar naturally. There are loads of delicious options, so you’re sure to find a plethora of foods to enjoy while simultaneously safeguarding your health!
Drinking Water to Lower Blood Sugar
The foods you eat aren’t the only natural ways to lower blood sugar by what you ingest. Staying hydrated is crucial for regulating blood sugar in the body. For those living with diabetes or prediabetes, drinking enough water may help lower blood sugar levels naturally and keep them within healthy ranges. In addition to potentially helping regulate blood sugar levels, drinking enough water also works to flush your kidneys and deliver toxins from the body.
When it comes to drinking enough water, make sure you’re drinking the right things. Plain water is always best, but you can increase your water intake with other beverages like tea, as well. The important thing is to steer clear of sugar-sweetened drinks, as these can actually raise your blood sugar levels higher, working against what you intend.
Connecting Stress and Blood Sugar
While you may think high blood sugar levels are caused just by what you eat or drink, other factors such as stress can also play a part. When you’re stressed, your body produces hormones called cortisol and glucagon which elevate blood sugar levels. Finding ways to reduce these hormone levels can go a long way to lower blood sugar naturally and keep you within healthy levels.
Activities like yoga and meditation have been recognized as potentially effective natural ways to lower blood sugar levels, serving as a good option for those living with diabetes and prediabetes.
Meditating is an easy activity you can do from almost anywhere at any time of day. Whether you’re taking a break in a quiet room at work, reclining in a zero gravity chair after a home workout, or creating a relaxing night time routine to unwind before bed, meditating can take just a few short minutes.
To make the most of combining multiple natural ways to lower blood sugar, consider zero gravity meditation! The potential health benefits of zero gravity chairs combined with calming meditation can have a drastic effect on stress levels. If you’ve got a zero gravity chair with massage and heat therapy features, you can take your experience to another level, calming your mind and body simultaneously. These bonus features of zero gravity luxury recliners can help your stress levels melt away.
Lower Blood Sugar During Sleep
Last, though certainly not least, in our exploration of tips for how to lower blood sugar naturally is to get better quality sleep. Poor sleeping habits can wreak havoc on anyone’s health. Sleep deprivation or the lack of quality rest negatively impacts your body’s insulin sensitivity and may result in higher blood sugar levels. Additionally, poor sleep quality can increase cortisol levels, resulting in higher stress factors that also contribute to hyperglycemia complications.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 8 hours of sleep for adults each night. To improve sleep quality, you can try activities like exercising (yes, it can help!), meditating, reducing nightly screen time, and avoiding eating just before bed. Having a relaxing night time routine like taking a warm bath or shower, journaling to get your thoughts down, listening to music, or sitting in a zero gravity chair can also help improve sleep quality and lower blood sugar naturally.
We hope these tips for how to lower blood sugar naturally have given you some new techniques to try. Before you begin any new health routine, consult your doctor to ensure it’s safe for you to do so. If you’re living with diabetes or prediabetes, monitoring your blood sugar levels is vitally important to your health. Adapting your lifestyle to include natural ways to lower blood sugar like following a healthy diet, being more active, or choosing a zero gravity chair for stress reduction could make a huge difference. Give them a shot and see what works best for you!
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