Sometimes your blood sugar stays stubbornly high. It could be something you ate, your period, stress – or something completely incomprehensible. It’s usually possible to bring down a high value with fast-acting insulin, but there are a few other things to consider.
1Get out and go!
Effective. As little as five minutes of walking is enough to have a measurable effect on blood sugar. The reason is that muscles use blood sugar as energy. But something else ingenious also happens: when muscles work, they “suck up” blood sugar without insulin being involved at all. Movement therefore acts as an insulin dose in itself. Anything that you do at a comfortable pace, such as walking, yoga, cycling or swimming, tends to lower blood sugar.
2Drink water
Underrated trick. If your blood sugar is too high, your body tries to clear the sugar out through your urine and you pee more. If you become dehydrated, the concentration of sugar in your blood increases even further and you easily end up in a vicious cycle. Drink a couple of glasses of water, this helps your kidneys filter and flush out the extra sugar.
3Take a warm bath
Basta also works! Lying submerged in warm water causes the blood vessels to relax and widen, allowing more blood to flow to the muscles and tissues. More blood to the tissues means more sugar can be taken up by the cells, and the level in the blood drops. A word of warning though! If you have just taken insulin, the increased blood circulation can cause the insulin to kick in faster than expected and you will become too low.
4Relax
Rushed? Slept poorly? When stress rises, your blood sugar follows suit. Learn 3–4 simple relaxation exercises that you can use when you need to stop the thoughts that are spinning in your head and dampen the stress reaction in your body. When stress hormones slow down, your blood sugar follows suit.
5Stretch
Several studies have shown that even passive stretching has a blood sugar-lowering effect. Why? The muscles are activated. Self-care in the form of a few gentle minutes of stretching can therefore
be both pleasant and blood sugar-smart.
Important troubleshooting
If your blood sugar is high, you need to double check:
- Did you forget to take your medicine?
- Is the insulin okay?
- Does the injection work?
- Does the blood glucose meter work?
- You have ketones?
If you are lying high for a long time, contact your healthcare provider for advice.
