Optimize Sleep for Better Glucose Control
Many lifestyle and pharmacological interventions can help us control our glucose levels, but let’s not forget sleep
Getting sticky
Glucose is a simple sugar and the most abundant building block of complex dietary carbohydrates — as well as a dietary component in itself.
It’s also the preferred fuel source for the human body.
Three sentences in and I can already imagine some people bristling. My low-carb readers will rightfully point out that, if you go sufficiently low-carb, your body can produce and use ketone bodies as fuel. Absolutely, but since this switch in fuel use only occurs when your body does not receive sufficient glucose to keep running, I choose to give this little sugar the title of preferred fuel source (which does not come with a value label, of course, use the fuel that makes you feel best).
Anyway, glucose.
Works great, if it can go where needed. For glucose to reach the fuel-hungry tissues, we need insulin. This small hormone yells at the cells in those tissues, “Hey, open up, your fuel is here! Use it or lose it.”
(I’m simplifying things, of course, but for this post, it’s the general idea that counts.)
