For people who havediabetes, the Somogyi effect and the dawn phenomenon both cause higherblood sugarin the morning. The dawn phenomenon occurs naturally, but the Somogyi effect usually occurs because of problems with yourdiabetes treatmentroutine.
Insulin, blood sugar and sleep
Your body uses a form ofsugarglucose as the main source of energy. Ahormonescalledinsulin, like yoursthe pancreasdoing so helps your body move glucose from your bloodstream into your cells.
While yousleep, your body does not need that much energy. But when you're about to wake up, it's getting ready to burn more fuel. That tells yoursleverto start releasing more glucose into yourblood. That should cause your body to release moreinsulinmore to processblood sugar.
If you have diabetes, your body doesn't make enough insulin to do that. That leaves too muchsugarin your blood is called a problemhyperglycemie.
High blood sugar can cause serious health problems, so if you have diabetes, you need help lowering these levels.Diet and exercisehelp, and you canmedicinelike insulin.
The dawn phenomenon
When you have diabetes, your body doesn't release more insulin to match the early morning rise in blood sugar. It is called the dawn phenomenon, as it usually occurs between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m.
The dawn phenomenon happens to almost everyone with diabetes. But there are a few ways to avoid this, including:
- Do not eat carbohydrates before bed.
- Take insulin at bedtime instead of earlier in the evening.
- Ask your doctor to adjust your dose of insulin or other diabetes medications.
- The useinsulin pump's at night.
The Somogyi effect
The Somogyi effect also causes high blood sugar levels in the early morning. But it usually happens if you take too much or too little insulin before bed, or if you skip your late night snack.
When this happens, your blood sugar can plummet overnight. Your body responds by releasing hormones that counteract insulin. This means you get too much blood sugar in the morning. It is also called rebound hyperglycemia.
How do you know which one you have?
Your doctor will want to know why you wake up with high blood sugar before they tell you how to treat it. This means that they will ask you to test your blood sugar in the middle of the night - around 2 or 3 am - for several nights.
If your levels are consistently low during that time, it's likely the Somogyi effect. If not, it's probably the dawn phenomenon. Knowing what will help your doctor come up with a plan to solve the problem.
