Diabetes is known to cause a lot of complications in your body. Tiredness and sleepiness in diabetes is the result of all such complications. In this article, we shall try to analyze the reasons why diabetes leads to diabetes fatigue. So, come and join us in the article as we try to explore the answer to the question “Does Diabetes Make You Tired and Sleepy?”

Meaning of Diabetes Fatigue?

When you are a diabetic patient, you tend to have a feeling of extreme tiredness so much so that it negatively affects your day to day life. A few symptoms of diabetic tiredness include the following:

• A headache and irritation
• Blurred vision
• Poor concentration and poor memory
• Dizziness

What Causes Tiredness in Diabetes?

When you are a patient of diabetes, there are several changes that are experienced by your blood. Your blood flow tends to become very slow as the blood gets thicker, like a maple syrup. Due to this, the blood does not reach to the inner cells in an appropriate manner to give enough oxygen and energy to different body parts and organs in the body. This results in tiredness and you tend to feel sleepy at all times.

Another reason for tiredness caused in the diabetic patients is that the condition leads to inflammation. This acts as a sign to the brain that it needs to take some rest and this process causes the fatigue amongst all the people who suffer from diabetes.

Finally, diabetes is known to give rise to a host of complications in its patients. People often experience the lack of red blood cells in their body. This again leads to tiredness. Other complications such as kidney failure, heart-related conditions, as well as damage to various body nerves cause tiredness in the people who have diabetes.

Fatigue is also caused due to very high or very low blood glucose levels. the same is explained in the following paragraph:

Relationship Between diabetes fatigue and Blood Glucose Levels

There exists a strong relationship between fatigue caused by diabetes and the levels of blood glucose in those who suffer from this condition. When there is an imbalance of blood glucose levels, sleepiness and tiredness are known to be common.

Diabetes and Hyperglycemia

When you do not have sufficient insulin or your insulin is not working efficiently, you experience high blood glucose levels or hyperglycemia. It is the hormone insulin which is responsible for transporting the glucose that we get from eating food into the cells and converting the same into energy. When there is not enough insulin, the same cannot happen and your body lacks the much-needed energy, causing diabetic fatigue.

Diabetes and Hypoglycemia

When the levels of blood glucose in your body are too low, your brain stops to function in an effective manner. The brain does not get enough resources and oxygen to function in an efficient manner. Low levels of blood glucose can even cause seizures due to problems for the brain to effectively function. All these are responsible for leading to tiredness in diabetes.

How can you Manage Tiredness Just After the Meals When You Are Diabetic?

Sometimes, you experience very high levels of blood glucose levels in your body just after eating your meals. Also, you feel extremely tired and can no longer function effectively. When this happens, there could be three possible reasons for the same:

• Your carbohydrate intake has become too much
• The carbohydrate in the food that you are taking in is getting digested too quickly
• You are perhaps not taking the right dose or medicine for managing your condition.

When either of the above causes tiredness, you perhaps have weight-management issues and you need to control the same, by reducing and controlling a number of carbohydrates that you eat, you can manage the same. Also, you can show your doctor and change your medicine if he or she so prescribes.

Read Also: Best Low Carb Snacks for Diabetics

How can you Manage Your Morning Tiredness?

In diabetes, sometimes you can wake up feeling very tired and lazy. This can happen for several reasons and you can understand that the tiredness is due to diabetes if you have had a good night sleep and still you are tired in the morning.

This usually happens when you have had too high or too low levels of blood glucose over-night. If the tiredness is being accompanied by a headache, it signifies that you have had very low levels of blood glucose over-night. In order to treat the same, you will have to check your blood glucose levels. also, do consult your doctor as you might have to change your diabetes medications as well as the insulin dose that you might have been taking.

Read Also: Why Is My Fasting Blood Sugar High in the Morning?

How Can You Fight Diabetes Fatigue?

You want to lead a normal life and diabetes fatigue does not enable you to do so. As such, you will need to take all the necessary steps to fight tiredness and fatigue in diabetes. The following are some of the ways of achieving the same:

• Blood glucose monitoring is the most important way in which you can achieve diabetes management.As seen above, both high and low blood glucose levels lead to fatigues.
• Another important way of managing fatigue effectively is eating the right type of diet as may have been prescribed by your doctor.
• Exercising plays a great role in managing your blood glucose levels, and thereby diabetes fatigue and sleepiness. Physical activity reduces fatigue by as much as 65 percent.
• Also, vitamin D is good for your body and as such, you need to step out in the sun
• Walk after you have had a heavy meal
• You can also take small naps in between
• Make walking a daily habit. Walk as much as you can even if it is in your house.
• Keep yourself free from stress
• Meditate as much as you can
• Sleep for at least six to eight hours a day
• Stay optimistic and positive

It is also important for you to remember that there are various other reasons that can lead to a feeling of fatigue and tiredness in your body. Hence, the changes in your diet, exercise regime, insulin dose, medication, etc. should be made only after careful analyses and considerations of the following:

• Are the fatigue and tiredness caused due to diabetes or is there any other disease which is responsible for the same?
• Should I take vitamin and nutrients supplements?
• What type of exercise is best for me?
• What should be my ideal weight?
• Is faulty medication responsible for the condition of diabetic fatigue?
• Is thyroid to be blamed for the condition?

Having considered all the above, you need to make sure that the tiredness is caused due to diabetes and take adequate measures under the expert supervision of your medical expert.

We hope that the above article has been helpful in improving your understanding of how diabetes can cause tiredness and sleepiness. High blood glucose levels in diabetes can cause the tiredness and sleepiness which patients with diabetes often experience. However, the good news is that the condition can be tackled with proper lifestyle. Whatever changes you do, remember to take an experts’advice on the same!!