When you’re living with diabetes, self-care takes on a whole new meaning. After all, you’re tending to a part of yourself that needs (and deserves) a great deal of attention. Self-care includes all the things you do to keep your blood sugar levels as balanced as possible, which can play a vital role in your overall health and happiness.
Even just a little mindfulness in your daily routine can help mitigate the stress of living with type 2 diabetes—or what many experts call “diabetes distress,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes. This term refers to the unique challenges and emotions that people with diabetes may experience, from the rigorous treatment regimen, to dealing with a complex medical system, to the daunting financial burden. Feelings of isolation, frustration, discouragement, anxiety, burnout, and anger are all common manifestations of diabetes distress, Diana Licalzi, RD, a certified diabetes educator and the cofounder of Reversing T2D, tells SELF.
Diabetes distress may negatively impact your blood sugar levels, too, because it makes it harder to take good care of yourself, according to Stephanie L. Leung, PhD, the director of psychology at the Fleischer Institute for Diabetes and Metabolism at Montefiore Einstein and an assistant professor of endocrinology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. This can become a vicious cycle: Less-balanced blood sugars leave you feeling crappy, and ultimately even less able to engage in the self-care that supports your diabetes and overall well-being.
You can turn that vicious cycle into a virtuous one by practicing genuine self-care, and witnessing the positive downstream effects on your physical and mental well-being. In this way, “prioritizing self-care allows a person with type 2 diabetes to be in the best place possible for good health outcomes,” Dr. Leung explains. Not to mention, you’ll hopefully experience more peace, joy, and ease in your day-to-day life. Here are seven ways to get started.
1. Get back in touch with your why.
If you’re feeling burnt out on the day-to-day of blood sugar management, “remind yourself why it is important to you to take care of your diabetes,” Dr. Leung recommends. It’s more helpful to focus on the positive with this approach: Think about the good stuff you want to enjoy, instead of the potential health complications you want to avoid. “Getting in touch with your values can be a powerful way to reinvigorate motivation,” she says.
She recommends asking yourself: “What do I gain from taking good care of my diabetes?” (Perhaps, as a journaling prompt.) What does feeling energized and being in a good mood allow you to do? Maybe it’s being active with your kids, fully engaging in the work that you love, feeling more confident traveling with friends, imagining being healthy enough to play with your future grandkids, or just feeling more comfortable in your body on a daily basis. Let whatever it is you desire to experience more of in life guide you when you’re feeling disengaged.
2. Incorporate enjoyable, bite-size movement breaks into your day.
We all know regular exercise is an excellent form of self-care—and it provides even more bang for your buck when you have diabetes. “Engaging in physical activity benefits blood sugar, and can lead to better mood, sleep, and quality of life,” Licalzi says.1,2
Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to spend an hour in the gym every day to reap the rewards. Find something you enjoy—dancing, biking, yoga—and do a little bit of it as regularly as you can. “Even just a 15-minute walk after meals can have a significant impact on your blood sugar and mood,” Licalzi notes.3
3. Lean on your favorite stress busters.
Keeping your stress in check is integral to your mental health, but it also makes a difference in effectively managing your diabetes, because “chronic stress can lead to even higher blood sugar levels,” Dr. Leung explains.4 Activities that help you relax and enjoy yourself “aren’t frivolous,” she adds—they are actually key to living well with diabetes.
It might be something you traditionally associate with stress reduction, like meditation, yoga, or soothing breathwork exercises. Maybe it’s spending time in nature or cuddling up with your pet. It could also be something creative, like playing music or painting. Or maybe it’s a hobby like reading or playing a sport.
Whatever helps you chill out, treat it like an important lifestyle habit—meaning it deserves just as much dedication as eating a balanced breakfast. And, just so your stress-busting habit doesn’t feel, well, stressful, Dr. Leung advises starting small. “Start with just five minutes a few times a week and work your way up until you can establish a routine,” she says.
4. Prioritize sleep, even when it feels hard.
As with exercise, quality sleep is even more foundational to your well-being when you’re living with diabetes. One of the kindest things you can do for your mind and body is to set yourself up for success the next day by putting sleep first. If you’re well-rested, you’ll likely feel more clear-headed and motivated to take care of yourself during the day by making choices that support your diabetes care, like having the energy to exercise or choosing foods that are better for your blood sugar, according to the CDC.
Not only that, but sleep deprivation—usually defined as regularly getting fewer than seven hours a night for most adults—can impact hormones involved in glucose metabolism, Licalzi explains. For instance, lack of sleep can make your body more resistant to insulin, which means insulin (produced naturally or injected) is less effective, resulting in higher blood sugars.
Whenever you can, do your best to treat your sleep like the necessity it is, not a luxury. Focus on maintaining a consistent sleep schedule (like waking up and dozing off around the same times each day), practicing good sleep hygiene (like setting a cutoff time for scrolling on your phone), and ideally getting seven to nine hours of sleep a night. This, of course, can be easier said than done—especially if you work a shift job or have caregiving responsibilities, for example—but incorporating even a few soothing presleep habits into your routine as consistently as possible can help set the stage for deep rest.
5. Ask for the help you need from the people you love.
Self-care can sometimes involve the people closest to you too. For instance, you can ask your friends, family, or partner for practical support as you adopt new lifestyle habits and get used to diabetes treatment. If they’re up for it, “enlist your loved ones to help you with diabetes-related tasks, from cooking, to having a gym buddy, to having someone who knows what to do if you have a hypoglycemic event,” Dr. Leung says.
This can also include stating what you don’t need and setting boundaries. “Don’t be afraid to request people not to hound you about your diabetes treatment regimen,” Dr. Leung says. If your spouse keeps getting on your case about, say, what you’re eating, you can gently remind them that it’s something you’re actively discussing with your doctor or dietitian, or explain to them how their comments make you feel and why it’s not helpful—and what could help support you in your journey instead.
6. Find your community.
Again, you don’t have to do this alone. Diabetes can be isolating and overwhelming—and finding connection with people like you is the antidote. Local and virtual communities for people with diabetes can help you feel seen, understood, and held, which in itself is deeply nourishing. “It can help you feel less alone,” Licalzi says.
Plus, working through your own challenges and toward your own diabetes goals with “support, accountability, and encouragement from others embarking on a similar journey” can even help you with making—and sticking to—lifestyle changes in the long run, Licalzi says. You also get to learn about what works for other people and be inspired by their progress.
You have plenty of options, including free support groups run by health care providers or people with diabetes, paid diabetes education or health coaching programs, and virtual communities on online forums and social media. Ask your doctor’s office about local support groups, check out the nonprofit Beyond Type 2’s virtual community, google for groups in your area, or search the American Diabetes Association’s support directory. The American Association of Diabetes Educators also has a great handout of ways to tap into the online diabetes community.
7. Try to give yourself a break.
If you’re being tough on yourself for not exercising regularly or testing your blood sugar enough, try to cut yourself some slack, especially if your day-to-day life has felt stressful or chaotic recently. “Remember you are human,” Dr. Leung says. “If you’re not sticking to all parts of your diabetes self-management regimen 100% of the time, that’s okay. You are normal. Perfection is not realistic.”
Maintaining an unrealistic expectation of yourself is only going to lead you to feel more burnt out by your condition. Sometimes, the best thing you can do to take care of yourself is… allow yourself to not do all the things to take care of yourself all the time. This may look like skipping the gym and letting yourself rest on a day you’re feeling particularly wiped, or making the less blood sugar-friendly snack choice once in a while.
To practice giving yourself some grace, you can try a short self-compassion meditation technique or check out these tips about self-love and acceptance. You can also use Dr. Leung’s words as a mantra or positive affirmation when you catch yourself being tough on yourself: Eyes closed, hand on heart, deep breath, and tell yourself: “Perfection is not realistic.” Or “I’m doing the best I can.”
Sources:
- Advances in Preventive Medicine, Interrelationship Between Sleep and Exercise: A Systematic Review
- The Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Exercise for Mental Health
- Diabetes Care, Three 15-Min Bouts of Moderate Postmeal Walking Significantly Improves 24-H Glycemic Control in Older People at Risk for Impaired Glucose Tolerance
- Cureus, The Effects of Mental Stress on Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes
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