Today we’ll take a look at how blood sugar affects your mind and mood. We’ve all seen how children go wild after they eat a bunch of sugar, right? We’ve also seen how they come crashing down, moody and disobedient. This is because their blood sugar has become unusually low at an unreasonable speed. This change in the body introduces feelings of anxiety and frustration. It makes it difficult to focus and the children feel suddenly tired and sometimes out of control.
Grownups are no different. We are simply able to deal with things in a less obvious manner. Regardless, the results are the same. We feel frustrated as our fuse begins to shorten. We grow moody and sometimes suffer from temporary depression and anxiety. We get headache brought on by the sudden plummet of our blood sugar.
It is easy to see why it is imperative to maintain a steady balance of blood sugar levels. Your body is affected, but so is your mind.
When you fall to sleep, your mind and body both need to be in the healthiest state possible to receive the best possible sleep. If you retire to bed in a bad mood, your rest will likely be as lousy as your mindset. Even dreams are affected by the sugar in our blood.
You may have noticed earlier that I mentioned ADHD. Both my wife and I have ADHD, and have wrestled with it since we were kids. We both struggled in school and share the experience of riding an emotional roller coaster every day of our lives.
Things such as too much sugar and caffeine would send me into ups and downs, making it impossible for me to concentrate. My wife would tell me stories of how she always had a big glass of orange juice (very high in sugar) right before ballet. Every time, her mom would pick her up only to find her sobbing from a splitting headache.
In our adult lives we are still affected by ADHD. My consulting business, for example, sometimes falls victim. My ability to take care of my clients effectively has always been at the mercy of my ADHD. What I have discovered is that diet, exercise, and a good night’s sleep all have a profound effect on how strong my symptoms are.
When I live a healthy, balanced lifestyle I find myself a far more focused and motivated person. Having ADHD means my thought can become easily scattered, and I find it difficult to concentrate on a single task.
This is not the case when I put attention into active health.
To be more specific, at least in regard to ADHD, I have found the two most important things I can do are stay away from simple carbs and consistently get a good night’s sleep. These two factors make all the difference in whether or not my ADHS is a struggle.
Alas, it isn’t that simple. You can’t simply focus on one or two areas of your health while leaving out others (exercise for example). Each area relies on the others to achieve optimum results. If you ignore exercise, you won’t be able to sleep as well; if you aren’t sleeping well, it will consequently be harder to exercise.
This is what I like to call the web of health. Everything is connected. Let’s move on to exercise, the next level of conscious, healthy living.
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