Your body’s glucose rollercoaster affects far more than diabetics – even nondiabetics experience dramatic oscillations in energy and mood when blood sugar spikes and crashes. Increasing evidence suggests a connection between mood and blood-sugar, or glycemic, fluctuations. Symptoms of poor glycemic control have been shown to closely follow mental health symptoms, such as irritability, anxiety, and worry.
When your blood sugar goes up, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. It is this complex biochemical cascade that accounts for the post-lunch crash being so devastating and the mood swings being mealtime-based.
The Science Behind the Spike and Crash
When you consume high-sugar foods, sugar consumption releases dopamine, temporarily boosting energy levels. Dopamine is released in the brain, which creates a sense of happiness and satisfaction. However, this initial euphoria turns into a physiological crisis reaction as your body desperately attempts to cope with dangerously high glucose levels.
The blood sugar spike process:
- Glucose gets into the bloodstream rapidly within minutes
- Insulin is employed by cells to absorb sugar from the bloodstream in large quantities
- Overcorrection results in a dip in blood sugar to below normal
- Hypoglycemia triggers the release of body hormones, such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline), which respond to bring the sugar level back up
A strong association was found between a higher postprandial glucose rise rate and more severe mood symptoms. Continuous glucose monitoring studies demonstrate that emotional instability directly correlates with the rate and amplitude of glucose fluctuations. Trait anxiety in participants was correlated with higher glucose excursions, leading to a vicious cycle where anxiety potentiates glucose variability, which potentiates the symptoms of anxiety.
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Energy Depletion and Mood Disruption
The subsequent drop following the glucose spike provides an ideal combination of physical and mental symptoms. Release of the hormones causes the first symptoms of hypoglycemia, such as tremor, sweating, palpitations, and nervousness. The swing can leave you in a grumpy, dazed, and not-yourself state.
If someone’s blood sugar drops even a tiny bit below 80 mg/dl, let’s say to a level of around 70 mg/dl, there will be an acute hunger attack. This shows how small declines in glucose trigger strong hunger messages, which is why blood sugar crashes make us so hungry for high-calorie foods, driving the spike-crash cycle.
A research team headed by a BBRF awardee has shed new light on how variations in blood glucose levels in the body are associated with variations in cognition. The cognitive impact extends beyond mood to affect concentration, decision-making, and memory formation. It can lead to learning and memory difficulties, mood swings, weight gain, and hormonal imbalances.
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Breaking the Glucose Rollercoaster
Understanding blood sugar mood swings enables you to choose foods that stabilize both glucose levels and emotions. The other hunger and fullness hormones, such as insulin, pick up and deliver feedback to the hypothalamus in the brain, establishing a feedback loop between the brain and gut that determines all dimensions of well-being.
Your blood sugar spikes and energy mood connection is a natural physiological system that controls the quality of your everyday life. Understanding how glucose affects neurotransmitters, stress hormones, and hunger cues, you can make conscious choices that bring you stable energy and emotional balance rather than hurtling on the debilitating rollercoaster of spikes and crashes.
