The content in this article should not be taken as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider regarding your individual health needs.
Have you ever noticed your glucose fluctuating in ways that didn’t seem tied to what you ate or your physical activity? Strong emotions, like anxiety, anger, or even excitement, can also play a significant role in how your blood sugar levels behave. Whether it’s the nervous energy before a big presentation or the frustration of being stuck in traffic, our emotional responses can set off a cascade of physical changes—including shifts in glucose levels.
Understanding this connection is a powerful tool in managing both your glucose and your emotional well-being. Let’s take a look at why this happens and how you can recognize and respond to the impact of emotions on your blood sugar.
Understanding the link
Glucose is the body’s primary source of energy, fueling everything from physical activity to brain function, and keeping glucose levels steady is important for your overall well-being. However, intense emotions can disrupt this balance.
When you experience strong emotions, your body releases hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that trigger your liver to dump glucose into your bloodstream, preparing you to face whatever lies ahead. While this response is natural, it can cause your glucose to rise—even if you haven’t eaten.
Common emotions that can affect blood sugar
Anxiety
Anxiety involves feelings of worry or unease about future events. It can arise from everyday stressors, like meeting deadlines or dealing with unexpected news. A certain level of anxiety can be helpful in motivating people to take action to be in control of the source of worry. However, high levels of anxiety can be disruptive and may lead to sustained glucose spikes.
Anger
Anger is a powerful emotion that often surfaces during conflicts or high-stakes situations, like arguments or competitive sports. Since anger can stimulate the fight-or-flight response, it can often be associated with a rise in blood sugar when feeling this emotion.
Excitement
Excitement, like the anticipation before a big celebration or a thrilling event, can also trigger glucose fluctuations. The body responds to excitement much like it responds to stress—by releasing energy in the form of glucose to prepare you for the heightened activity or emotion.
Recognizing the impact of emotions on glucose
One of the great things about wearing a glucose biosensor like Stelo is the increased awareness you can develop regarding how behaviors like eating and activity impact your glucose levels. You may also notice that both positive and negative emotions— like excitement, nervousness, anger, and anxiety—can impact your glucose.
Here are some tips to help you reveal your personal glucose responses and connect the dots:
Track emotional patterns
When you’re feeling strong emotions, take a look at your glucose biosensor to see if there’s a rise in glucose. You might see a rise in glucose that’s separate from food you’ve eaten, or you might see a larger than usual rise in glucose after a meal.
Identify triggers
Are there certain emotions that you experience regularly that may impact your glucose levels? Once you’ve identified these, you can look at your glucose biosensor leading up to and after these events to see if your glucose was different than usual on that day or during a specific event.
Final thoughts
Strong emotions are an inevitable part of life, and they’re deeply connected to how our bodies function. By becoming more aware of how your emotions influence your glucose levels, you are taking the first step toward better understanding and managing these interactions.
While you can’t avoid emotional responses, you can learn to navigate them in a way that supports your health. Using a glucose biosensor enables you to track patterns, spot trends, and create strategies to regulate your reactions—whether through mindfulness, activity, or simply stepping back to breathe.
Curated & reviewed by: Maggie Crawford,
PhD, MPH
PhD, MPH
Maggie Crawford is the Senior Manager of Behavioral Science at Dexcom. She has a PhD in Public Health, Health Behavior and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology
