Causes for High Sugar Levels:
- Obesity and lack of exercise: The sugars that we eat are not burnt if we don’t exercise, and this lead the sugar to float around in the blood thus giving high blood sugars.
- Smoking: Cigarettes contain the harmful cadmium that is responsible for elevated levels of sugar in the blood.
- Diseases of the pancreas like tumors can cause decreased insulin production causing the levels of sugar in the blood to remain high.
- Increased stress level has a negative effect on the body. The sugar levels remain high constantly and predispose you to diabetes.
- In diabetics skipping the insulin injection or oral glucose-lowering medicine can cause the levels of sugar in the blood to shoot up.
- Skipping regular meals and then overcompensating by eating a lot of carbs at a time is also a reason for rise in the blood glucose levels.
- Endocrine dysfunctions, pituitary and adrenal tumors also interfere with the glucose digestion leading to rise in the blood sugar levels.
- High glucose level can be due to the effects of certain medicines like corticosteroids.
- Diseases of the liver may result in high glucose levels by interfering with the glucose metabolism.
- Glucose toxicity is an interesting phenomenon that occurs in few individuals. It’s caused when there is already an elevated level of glucose, due to any reason, and then this level is maintained or increased by decreasing insulin sensitivity or increasing glucose production in liver.
Causes For Low Blood sugar:
- An overdose of insulin or oral glucose-lowering medications, either accidentally or on purpose.
- Severe reduction in liver function.
- Excessive alcohol consumption leads to irreparable damages in the liver leading to low blood sugar levels.
- Long standing fasting or chronic malnutrition can deprive the body of sugars causing hypoglycemia.
- Adrenal gland diseases like Addison’s disease.
- Decreased activity of the pituitary gland.
- Excessive exercising can lead to a temporary reduction in blood sugar levels as all the available glucose gets utilized during the process of exercising.
- Tumors of the pancreas, especially the types where the production of insulin increases, can lead to severe depletion of sugars from the body.
- In diabetics, not taking the required amount of sugars especially after the insulin injection can cause the sugar levels to drop.
- Gastric bypass surgeries and other weight loss surgeries can cause you to suffer from hypoglycemia. This is a common condition called reactive hypoglycemia.