Sugar, Stress and Sleep by Jason Anderson

 Sugar, Stress and Sleep by Jason Anderson

By Jason Anderson, Managing Director Movement3

Stress and Posture are my two favourite topics, as each is linked intimately to the other!

Stress comes in many, many forms, but we can categorise them in 3 ways: physical, chemical and emotional.

Physical stressors are the things we do; chemical stressors are the chemicals we ingest through eating, drinking, breathing and absorption (through the skin, the body’s largest organ) and emotional stress is the perception of control (or rather lack of it).

An example of how these are linked could be…

e.g. Too much physical activity (over-training) will lead to elevated Cortisol (stress hormone) which reduces muscle mass and leads to an increase in *Insulin 2 hours later (fishing effect). This in turn creates sugar cravings, which leads to poor concentration and feelings of agitation as blood sugars plummet and the brain is starved of glucose.

*Note: Cortisol and Insulin are antagonistic hormones and one is followed by a release of the other 2 hours later. This is often why it is difficult to sleep 2 hours after eating something sugary in the evening – Cortisol (your stress / energy hormone) is released 2 hours later!

Or…e.g. You are out running and trip over an uneven curb and twist your knee. In a split second you have gone from hero to zero. Itching to go out for a run you start to feel a little depressed about your injury… so you start eating ‘junk’ as a compensation.

Note: What is interesting about stress is that people often use physical and / or chemical factors to increase the perception of control – more on that in future issues.

Emotional eating

Eating and emotions are intimately linked due to the ‘Feel good’ hormone Serotonin, of which 80% of the body’s supply is produced in the gut. This has evolved as a result of social (tribal) hierarchy and pecking order. Clearly the more food you eat – the higher up the pecking order you must be..?!

So sometimes we eat to feel better, which is clearly short lived, as we then feel guilty for over-eating… subsequently increasing our emotional stress. Talk about a downward spiral!

Sugar cravings

To avoid those horrible sugar cravings you will need to maintain consistent blood sugar levels throughout the day by avoiding anything starchy or sugary.

As your taste receptors are set by your first meal – Breakfast!

Eating a carbohydrate-rich breakfast will set in motion the Sugar-Insulin-Cortisol roller coaster! – making you fatter, weaker and less intelligent than before you ate it!

Breakfast

So what should you eat for breakfast? Protein! (Sorry I don’t make the rules)

Protein for breakfast will not only make you more Insulin sensitive for the rest of the day it will also kick-start the body’s natural detoxification processes and boost the immune system!

Protein for breckie can either come in the form of eggs, meat or fish – yummy!

Insulin

Insulin is the primary hormone! It is the first hormone that our bodies produce as a developing fetus, so we can utilize nutrients from our mothers.

It is also the primary FAT-storing hormone as it draws excess blood glucose into the fat cells.

So if you mismanage insulin by following a high carbohydrate lifestyle you will get fatter – period!!!

Insulin mismanagement is clearly linked to modern diseases like Diabetes type 2 and Alzheimer’s, which has been affectionately nick-named Diabetes type 3, due its link to Insulin.

Clearly some people can survive eating higher levels of starchy carbohydrate than the rest of us. This can be indicated by the fat stored on the back under the shoulder blade.

However tolerant you are to carbohydrates, stress will reduce this tolerance by making you less Insulin sensitive. So imagine one day you are eating 150g of starchy carbs with no ill effects. Once you become over-stressed physically or emotionally this amount of carbs suddenly becomes too much – and you start getting fatter!

Let’s throw some more light on the situation

Sitting in front of a TV screen late at night… or having the lights on full blast at the end of the day will stimulate the release of Cortisol. This is because the light receptors in the retina sends a signal to the Hypothalamus in the brain that it is light and therefore time to be awake.

The Hypothalamus then sends a signal (Corticotrophin releasing hormone - CRH) to the Pituitary gland which then sends a signal (Adrenocorticotrophin hormone - ACTH) to the Adrenal glands to release Cortisol.

As mentioned earlier…

2 hours after this ‘stressful’ event – Insulin is released to ‘nourish’ and replenish blood sugars. So now you’re craving sugars and the chocolate bars you have in the fridge for the kids are calling your name. Not helped by the adverts on the T.V. at this time.

To avoid a sleep-depriving Cortisol kick late at night, dim the lights and shut down the P.C. well before bedtime - You can answer those emails in the morning. Avoid snacking on sweets late at night as this will stress your body. If you feel a little peckish grab a protein snack like a piece of meat or some scrambled eggs done in a bit of butter!