The body experiences stress as a threat and therefore does everything it can to be prepared to run.

In doing this, it makes more glucose available in the blood by reducing insulin, releasing glucose from the liver and reducing tissue sensitivity to insulin. This ensures that the body could flee from a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, the body is unable to differentiate between workplace stress and the physical threat of being chased by a tiger. The response is the same.

Ongoing chronic stress can therefore greatly impact the body's ability to manage glucose in the blood and the risk of insulin resistance increases.

Managing stress is very important to achieving positive metabolic health outcomes.

Finding strategies such as mindfulness, meditation or exercise that work for you have been found to help lower blood glucose levels and reduce the impact on metabolic health.

If you are struggling to get your stress under control it is very valuable to talk to your health care provider to get support.