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Sleep better and control your blood sugar

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Sleep better and control your blood sugar

For a long time, it has been known that lack of sleep affects various bodily functions and overall metabolic health, starting with imbalances in the endocrine and immune systems. It has been shown that sleeping less than 7 hours leads to fatigue and reduced physical activity, including poorer blood sugar control (1). So, as you know, sleep better and manage your blood sugar (with all the benefits that implies).

Proper blood glucose control leads to better sleep quality. That’s why Glucovibes offers you some tips to improve glucose control and enhance your rest. Sleeping well is one of the keys to good health.

A direct link has been established between sleep quality and blood glucose control. Specifically, people with unstable blood glucose control (greater variability, more frequent high and low blood glucose levels) sleep worse than those who maintain better blood sugar control throughout the day (2).

Interestingly, glucose and sleep have a bidirectional influence on each other. In other words, sleep affects glucose levels, and glucose levels affect your sleep.

Below, we will discuss how to improve sleep quality through glucose monitoring.

Reducing glucose variability

In other words: staying within normal glucose ranges. Keeping glucose levels stable throughout the day offers numerous benefits, including improving sleep quality, reducing appetite, and enhancing energy levels.

How can you achieve this? To maintain more consistent glucose levels, ensure you get enough exercise, combine carbohydrate-rich foods with proteins, healthy fats, and vegetables to ensure adequate fiber intake, and consider going for a walk or staying active after meals (4,5).

Here’s an example: let’s say you have rice for dinner—an option you love, but with a high glycemic index. If you add vegetables and chicken to this white rice, you’ll achieve a more gradual glucose curve and a more stable rise in blood sugar.

Moreover, starting your meal with a green salad before the rice can enhance glucose control. The water and fiber from the salad will help delay the absorption and digestion of carbohydrates, preventing postprandial hyperglycemia.

Reduce the frequency of 'sharp' and 'low' peaks

On the other hand, reducing the frequency of sharp peaks and lows has also been shown to improve sleep quality. At Glucovibes, we offer Glucotips to help you avoid these peaks—simple and easy-to-implement habits that can be incorporated into daily life without leaving you hungry.

Additionally, to avoid lows, make sure you eat enough, especially after physical exercise. It is recommended to consume a meal rich in carbohydrates, which will help reduce the amount of time spent in hypoglycemia and lower the frequency of low blood glucose levels. This is particularly important during periods of high-volume or intensive training, where post-exercise intake is key to preventing nighttime hypoglycemia. Keep in mind that avoiding large glucose spikes can help prevent rebound lows, but you may not experience as high a spike from the same intake immediately after exercise.

In other words, the same intake will not cause as high a peak after exercise as it would without physical activity. That’s why we emphasize the importance of staying active throughout the day.

Limit glucose spikes before bed

Avoiding large meals close to bedtime is a good strategy for improving sleep quality. Reducing postprandial glucose spikes can also be achieved by engaging in light exercise after meals: a 20-minute walk is much healthier both nutritionally and mentally than taking a nap or scrolling through Twitter.

Several studies suggest that glucose spikes before bedtime may help some people fall asleep, but they do not guarantee optimal sleep quality throughout the night. Therefore, we recommend using our nutrition tracking and glucose analysis system to experiment and find the ideal amount of food that helps you both fall asleep and achieve restful, high-quality sleep.

💡 Regular exercise is a great way to fall asleep at night.

Increase exercise

The beneficial effects of regular exercise on sleep can be explained through multiple pathways, including interactions with the circadian rhythm, metabolic, immune, thermoregulatory, vascular, mood, and endocrine effects.

Did you know that among the professional athletes we advise, we have already started to see better nocturnal glucose levels on medium-intensity training days compared to rest days?

Staying active throughout the day will help you rest better. We recommend increasing your daily steps (the WHO suggests a minimum of 10,000 steps a day, although this might be too few as evidenced by recent studies), walking to do errands, avoiding the elevator in favor of stairs, and engaging in active leisure activities. Exercising before bed does not necessarily disrupt sleep for good sleepers, but if you struggle to fall asleep, we suggest exercising at least two hours before bedtime (6).

More tips

To wrap up, in addition to all the previous tips, we suggest that to improve your rest, you should avoid screens before bedtime (7), and refrain from consuming stimulants such as teas, coffees, and energy drinks close to bedtime. We also recommend incorporating magnesium-rich foods into your diet, such as nuts or pumpkin seeds. Finally, aim to maintain a calm and quiet environment, along with a consistent routine.

In conclusion, glucose levels affect sleep, and we also know that sleep itself can alter these levels. Proper glucose control, like that provided by Glucovibes, will improve your sleep quality along with the tips we’ve shared. To summarize, we recommend limiting glucose variability using various strategies, such as combining carbohydrate-rich foods with proteins and fats, and taking a walk after each meal…

Moreover, increasing physical activity and exercise is closely related to sleep regulation. We encourage you to stay active throughout the day and develop your own strategy to enhance this factor.

Finally, maintaining a consistent routine and creating a tranquil environment will help you rest better.

References

  • [1] Lee SWH, Ng KY, Chin WK. The impact of sleep amount and sleep quality on glycemic control in type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2017 Feb;31:91-101.
  • [2] Depner CM, Stothard ER, Wright KP Jr. Metabolic consequences of sleep and circadian disorders. Current Diabetes Reports. 2014 Jul;14(7):507.
  • [4] Henry CJ, Kaur B, Quek RYC. Chrononutrition in the management of diabetes. Nutrition & Diabetes. 2020 Feb 19;10(1):6.
  • [5] Erickson ML, Jenkins NT, McCully KK. Exercise after You Eat: Hitting the Postprandial Glucose Target. Frontiers in endocrinology. 2017 Sep; 8(228).
  • [6] Chennaoui M, Arnal PJ, Sauvet F, Léger D. Sleep and exercise: a reciprocal issue? Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2015 Apr;20:59-72.
  • [7] Falbe J, Davison KK, Franckle RL, Ganter C, Gortmaker SL, Smith L, Land T, Taveras EM. Sleep duration, restfulness, and screens in the sleep environment. Pediatrics. 2015 Feb;135(2):e367-75. Ω≤