One of the best ways to improve insulin resistance and lower your blood sugar levels is exercise. Below, we’ve highlighted the key reasons exercise improves insulin resistance and provided recommendations on what to do.
Strength and high-intensity training support our body’s energy systems in the following ways:
This type of training has a whole wealth of benefits associated with it, including specific adaptations to your body that improve the function of your energy systems:
3) Stress management
There are many ways in which chronic stress can harm our body’s energy systems and increase insulin resistance. Still, one of the primary issues appears to be the increase in the stress hormone cortisol.
Cortisol is released during stress to increase glucose release into the bloodstream from the liver. This ensures that your body has enough fast fuel available during stress, such as pressing the brake in your car if you see an animal on the road or running away from a threat.
But if you’re constantly in a state of sleep deprivation or stress, your body releases high amounts of glucose into the bloodstream. You’ll also be releasing higher levels of insulin, which can worsen insulin resistance over time.
Fortunately, there are some proven ways to reduce your circulating levels of cortisol and reduce stress:
1) Low-intensity exercise
While higher-intensity exercise can be a great tool, it increases cortisol levels in your bloodstream in the short term. This isn’t an issue for an individual with normal lower cortisol levels, as they will return to baseline after the exercise.
However, if you’re experiencing chronically high levels of cortisol due to stress or lack of sleep, you might want to avoid adding additional stressors to your lifestyle.
On the other hand, lower-intensity exercise has been shown to reduce cortisol levels. Some great options are:
- Walking
- Yoga, pilates, tai-chi
- Low-intensity cycling
- Low-intensity swimming (breaststroke)
- Any exercise you can do at a lower intensity
2) Meditate
Mindfulness meditation is the art of paying attention on purpose and without judgement. This typically involves sitting still with your eyes closed and focusing on your breath.
Research on meditation has expanded in the last 10-15 years, with multiple studies showing positive effects on mental health conditions, cognition, and brain structure.
Unsurprisingly, one area of focus has been the connection between meditation and stress. A study investigated the impact of 18 sessions of meditation on hair cortisol levels in young students compared to a control group with no intervention.
The results showed that hair cortisol levels dropped by 10%, while they rose in the control group. Similar results have been replicated in a study using blood cortisol levels in students in Thailand, which showed a 19.6% reduction after a meditation intervention of four hours a day for four days.
How can I get into a meditation habit?
Thanks to the introduction of popular apps and videos on YouTube, meditation has never been so accessible. Here are three great apps you can download today to help guide you through your meditation practice and help you turn it into a habit:
- Balance (currently offering a 1-year free subscription)
- Headspace
- Calm
3) Access nature
A review of 43 observational studies investigating the impact of spending time outdoors found strong associations between outdoor activities – particularly those with green space – such as gardening, nature viewing, and exercising with lower self-reported stress and blood cortisol levels.
This was supported by a study that measured the hair cortisol levels in 85 individuals and tracked their behaviours for 6-months to see what impact those activities would have on their cortisol levels.
The study found a strong correlation between the amount of time spent in nature and hair cortisol levels. So the more time the participants spent in nature, the lower their cortisol levels.
Spending time outdoors, in green spaces, and in natural environments seems to reduce cortisol levels and improve our health.
Key points:
- Stress can contribute to the development of insulin resistance through high cortisol levels.
- High cortisol levels lead to high glucose levels, which promote more insulin release in the blood.
- Low-intensity exercise, meditation, and accessing nature are three evidence-based ways to effectively lower cortisol levels.
4) Sleep
There are many areas where sleep deprivation can lead to insulin resistance. Like chronic stress, one of the key mechanisms seems to be the higher cortisol levels the body releases during sleep deprivation.
Here are three key areas to improve your sleep:
- Have a consistent sleep routine.
- Avoid technology before bedtime.
- Be mindful of your caffeine intake.
1) Have a consistent sleep routine
Your body’s cells are all aligned to an internal 24-hour clock known as the circadian rhythm. This has been developed across our evolution and was designed to ensure survival.
Research on maternal mothers supports this. A recent study randomised 123 mothers with 3-18-month-old children to a specific bedtime or no routine (control). The results showed that the mothers reported higher quality sleep, fewer awakenings during the night, and improved mood.
Here are three tips to ensure a regular bedtime routine:
- Set a regular bedtime and stick to it: Many smartphones will have a sleep function set up with a reminder to head to bed. Halfway through a film? Pause and return to it the next night – it’s not going anywhere.
- Set a regular alarm for the morning: As much as it’s essential to go to bed at the same time each night, it’s also important to stick to your morning routine. At first, you might feel tired when you wake up, but as your body adjusts to your routine, you’ll start to wake up naturally, and the alarm will act as a backup.
- Exercise and get outside during the day: Our circadian rhythm responds to daily time cues known as ‘Zeitgebers’ which provide feedback to the body’s cells on what time of day it is. Exercise is a strong Zeitgeber and can help your body’s hormonal balance to help a healthy sleep routine. Accessing the outdoors and exposing yourself to natural light in the morning seems to be a potent Zeitgeber and may help to boost your energy levels for the day.
2) Avoid technology half an hour to an hour before bedtime
There are two key reasons why avoiding technology before bedtime can be an effective strategy for improving sleep:
Blue light has been shown to disrupt sleep physiology.
Stimulating activities such as email and social media before bedtime have also been shown to interrupt sleep quality and duration.
A cross-sectional study investigated the link between electronic screen use before bedtime and sleep quality and duration. The results indicated that the more time spent on electronic screens before bedtime, the poorer the sleep quality and the lower the sleep duration. This association was more robust if the individuals were on social media or surfing the internet.
Recent research suggests that the impact of technology use on sleep has to do with a disruption in sleep physiology and the release of essential hormones that regulate our sleep-wake cycle, such as melatonin.
Because of the potential impact of technology use on our sleep quality, we recommend trying some of the following habits before bed:
- Reading
- Journalling
- Meditation
3) Be mindful of your caffeine intake
Caffeine is a natural stimulant that activates our central nervous system to improve mental performance and increase alertness. This is why you often feel that ‘boost’ or caffeine ‘buzz’ after your morning coffee.
Caffeine can impact our sleep by temporarily blocking the adenosine receptors in our brain (adenosine is the hormone responsible for helping us fall asleep), which results in us remaining alert and having difficulty falling asleep.
The relationship between coffee and caffeine consumption on sleep has been demonstrated in a recent systematic review which analysed 58 studies investigating the effects of caffeine on sleep.
The studies consistently showed altered sleep quality with higher caffeine intake. Although, it’s noteworthy that individual responses to caffeine will vary greatly.
Because of the effects of caffeine on sleep, we recommend:
- Avoiding caffeine after midday as it can stay in your system for up to 12 hours.
- Try switching to herbal teas or decaf in the afternoon.
Key points:
- A lack of sleep impacts insulin resistance in many ways; one of those is the increase in cortisol levels.
- Having a consistent sleep routine, avoiding technology before bed, and avoiding caffeine after midday are three evidence-based ways to improve your sleep.
Take home message
The personal fat threshold can be described as the tipping point at which your body can no longer store fat in the adipose tissue as subcutaneous fat.
At this point, more fat will be stored in your vital organs, such as your liver or your pancreas, and chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes will develop or accelerate.
Your body’s energy systems which govern how and where your food energy is stored are primarily influenced by your lifestyle and your level of insulin resistance.
All lifestyle areas can impact your body’s ability to regulate food energy. It’s not just about diet and exercise but also sleep, stress, and relaxation.
Hopefully, throughout this series, you’ve developed a greater understanding of how your body functions and the lifestyle strategies you can implement to improve your health for the long term.
