BREATHWORK & Insulin Resistance
Hello beautiful Self-Care Goddesses,
Happy Wednesday! Hope you’re having a good week so far.
I’m not sure if you noticed, but I did take a pause due to family responsibilities. But it feels so good to be back and can’t wait to share with you even more amazing news and stories from our podcast guests. Check it out on my stories on Instagram or Facebook to see what I’ve been up to.
Did you know that giving out gifts for appreciation is one way to express gratitude? Try it.
🙏🏽 Gratitude Practice 🙏🏽
Give a team member a small gift as a way to show your gratitude. (I.e. Gift
card, coffee, lunch, offer to pay for an Uber Eats order for them).
🌸 ====== 🌸
Can deep breathing help lower blood sugar?
Incorporating breathing exercises in one’s daily routines may sound simple. Still, it has proven to have great benefits and effectively influences the control of blood glucose levels. According to the American Diabetes Association research, deep breathing can resolve type 2 diabetes. Conscious breathing improves insulin effectiveness, enabling cells to consume glucose as energy. It also prevents a concentration of glucose in the bloodstream, which can affect blood sugar levels, and become dangerous over a sustained period of time if left unmoderated. Stress, anxiety, and depression are well-known to be associated with diabetes. Endorphins are released when you do deep breathing and the levels of counter-regulatory hormones like adrenaline, non-adrenaline and cortical, which block the action of insulin come down.
I invite you to join the monthly online New Moon Breathwork Experience. Purchase your online tickets here.
Alterations in breathing pattern through pranayama can influence insulin sensitivity and glycemic status in healthy individuals and in individuals with diabetes. Some studies have looked directly at the effect of breathwork and its ability to affect the autonomic regulation of glucose control and insulin sensitivity in people with diabetes.
A study on regular practice of coherent breathing in people with Type 2 diabetes and ischemic heart disease saw participants increase their HRV and significantly lower their HbA1c after three months of consistent practice. Following other studies that show stress management can help diabetes control, the authors suggest that the breathwork decreased the activity of the sympathetic system, which helped improve glucose levels.
Check out my podcast “Your Ultimate Guide To Insulin Resistance” episode #72 on the Self-Care Goddess Podcast.
Another research team found that three months of breathwork (in a pattern similar to Buteyko) reduced oxidative stress in people with Type 2 diabetes, as well as better trends in fasting glucose and HbA1c compared to people who did not do breathwork.
A study in healthy college-aged participants looked at the short-term effects of a couple of minutes of relaxed breathing (extending the length of your exhale) on glucose processing. Researchers had the students repeat the breathwork every 10 minutes for 30 minutes before drinking a 75g glucose load and for 90 minutes after. It found that the breathwork seemed to blunt the glucose peak, pushing it to 60 minutes instead of 30 in the control group and lowering it slightly.
I invite you to watch my wellness video “Breathe In Ease For Stress Busting”
Breathing exercises seek to bring the person into the present moment to reduce stress. Some breathwork practices are fairly complicated and others straightforward, but it is certain that breathing exercises influence glycemic response and insulin sensitivity.
I am a certified Breathwork Facilitator. Connect With Me to know more on the amazing power of breathwork and learn some breathwork techniques than can help you better manage yourself.
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