 Today we are going to talk about cortisol, the adrenal gland, and effect on diabetes. So you wonder sometimes why you do everything right, but your sugar remains high? Well, cortisol can be a contributing factor. Let's talk about it, guys. So guys, before we jump to the topic, I want to encourage you to take the quiz in the description below to win a chapter from my diabetes book. Let's move on. Okay, so you might be wondering what is the cortisol to do with diabetes, right? So cortisol is a hormone that is released from adrenal glands from adrenal cortex. So the cortisol is released when you are under stress. Now it could be a mental stress, it could be physical stress, and it's actually a very useful hormone, right? So it actually allows your body to utilize the glucose in a healthy individual. It helps your body to make more glucose. Let's say you are in a situation where you are in an island and, you know, nobody's there, there's no food. You need the cortisol in order to survive, because that's how your body really protects your brain and provides the glucose. It makes your body make glyconeogenesis, which means that, you know, you're making glucose from everything you have in order to survive, right? Because if your blood sugar is down to 50, and some of you may have experienced that before, you know how it feels, right? You can't think, you can't do anything. Once your blood sugar is down that level, you're done. So that has to be prevented at all expense. So that's why we have cortisol in our system to allow our blood sugar to be maintained at stressful situations. Or let's say you see a lion, or you see somebody's attacking you. Of course, seeing a lion is not a common situation, right? Somebody's attacking you, and you're like, you've got to fight or fly, right? So if you really want to do something about it, you need some rapid energy coming to you. So your body makes adrenaline, your body makes cortisol. Cortisol actually increases the efficacy of adrenaline as well. So it's like a turbocharging your adrenaline when you're under stress. And you can run like five miles. Normally, you can't even go like half a mile without huffing and puffing. But if somebody is chasing you, you can go five miles like with one breath. And that is what cortisol and adrenaline is making you do. Now, of course, that's not a common situation, right? But in daily life, there are a lot of stressors that we deal with. We deal with stress at work. We deal with stress in the family. We deal with financial problems. We deal with some like, let's say a wound or hurting body part, or whatever it may be, your body goes through a lot of mental and physical stress. And studies show that actually, people who are under a lot of stress and people who do not manage their stress. Remember, that's another thing that everybody's under stress, right? Nobody has this beautiful life, you know, unless they have a huge inheritance and they don't do anything, and then maybe a stress too, actually. But regardless, everybody has some stress. And the question is how do you really manage your stress? So some of us have more stress than the others. But at the end of the day, you have to know how to manage your stress. And we'll talk about that. But when you're under stress, studies show that people who are under chronic stress are more likely to become diabetic. And, you know, when I ask my patients, for example, like, you know, they'll say, you know, I take my medications, I eat good, you know, I do everything right, my blood sugar is not coming down. Well, that's true that they are not making enough insulin to compensate for it. Let's say you have a financial problem, right? And you have a rich debt. Well, it can always cause money from your debt and you can just close your debt, you know, but everybody has that luxury, right? So with diabetes, you do not make enough insulin, you do not make enough insulin. And if you're under stress, that insulin that you're making is just not going to be enough because cortisol opposes the action of insulin and actually actively reduces your insulin production. So if you have any insulin left in your body, you're not going to be able to make it if there is a lot of cortisol in your system. If you are constantly stressed, angry, irritable, first of all, you're not going to feel good, you're going to feel always run down, you're going to feel depressed, you know, cortisol is a good hormone when it is in and out of your system. You know, but if it is constantly there, then you will have huge chronic problems. And not only causes weight gain and insulin resistance, but again, it lowers your insulin levels. So we have to find a way to manage our stress. If you can actually even do a log and find out on the days that your numbers are running high, you may realize that like on Monday, my blood sugars are running high all the time on Sundays, I'm pretty easy, you know, everything is fine. It could be the stress on Monday if you're a working individual, right? Or Sunday could be a stressful day for you. Who knows? But the bottom line is you have to track your stress and assess your response with your blood sugar. Now, how do you manage stress? Well, there's a lot of ways. The best way to manage stress is to get away from the stress. Now, how do you get away from stress? There are people who do different things, right? So if you think that you don't have enough family time, make sure you get some enough family time, some relaxation, make sure you do have some meditation. This could be a religious ritual. This could be just some sort of yoga, but you have to be by yourself, take some deep breaths, immerse yourself in some positive thoughts, eliminate the negative thoughts, and hope for the best. If you are believing the higher power, pray and make hope for the best. And I think when you do that, your stress level immediately go down and then your body's response to everything becomes smoother as well. Of course, you need to do a physical activity that's going to really help as well, because if you are enough physically active, you know, and you put some music on, you're going to be able to release your thoughts and just concentrate on your exercise. And then when your body is dealing with one stress, it is hard to deal with another stress, the acute stress that the physical activity brings on you. And then following relaxation is the important part that actually teaches your body to give a huge stress response and then relax instead of keeping the stress constantly high. And not only that, when you are exercising, your body creates a lot of endorphins, a lot of good hormones, adipokines, that makes you feel good at the end of the day. If you are very stressed out at work, you may want to consider changing to a different department or asking some help from your supervisor. And if they're all jerks, you know what, just find another job. It's not important to consume yourself and let yourself go down because of a job. There are a lot of support groups out there. You know, I am planning to actually create a Facebook group, which I will announce as soon. I want my YouTube followers supporting each other. I know YouTube is a great support group, but it is not necessarily collecting everybody together. So keep writing comments and messages, which everybody else is reading, that's great. But it's not really like intimate environment to be able to connect. So we want to create a Facebook group where you guys can bring all your concerns, questions, you can give me ideas about what to talk about. We can even bring you on the show. If you guys want to be on YouTube and want to talk about your journey, we are all welcome about that too. Because when you share, when you talk about your problems, they become less and less. And that's why support groups are important. Definitely be part of it. And lastly, don't be scared of talking to a psychologist, if not psychiatrist. I know a lot of people say, you know, I don't want to be on meds, I don't want to be on drugs. Get it, totally get it. But I think talking to a psychologist, a counselor who will listen to you without a bias, without, you know, prejudice, maybe a good option as well. Consider that again, these are investments that you make for yourself. You know, your couch can wait, your large TV can wait, your DVD player can wait. Those are not the most important investments. The best investments you can make it for yourself. So guys, I hope you become less stressful. I hope you can manage your diabetes better from now on. Make sure you like, make sure you subscribe, and we'll see in the next video. So guys, before you go, please remember to take the quiz. Taking quizzes will allow you to understand and absorb that information that you're getting from this video today. Plus, you will have the chance to win a chapter from the Ultimate Diabetes book. Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying this channel so far. And I hope you're subscribed already. If you didn't do it, and if you did, watch this video right there. I think that will help you too.