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- Dawn Phenomenon
Dawn Phenomenon
- By diabetic live
- Published 01/23/2008
- Diabetes 101
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diabetic live is a web portal designed for Diabetes education. We offer many resources on the disease as well as product reviews. We are located in Arlington, VA, just outside of Washington, DC.
diabetic live was founded in 2006 by Christopher Berry. Christopher is a 33 year old Diabetic who has had Diabetes since 1978.
In 2008, diabetic live was re-launched with a new image and more content. We are working hard to make diabetic live the largest and most visited diabetes resource online.
A person with a high blood glucose reading in the morning could be demonstrating dawn phenomenon. The salient feature of that phenomenon is high blood glucose, with the level peaking sometime between the hours of 4 am and 8 am.
Still, a high blood glucose reading in the morning does not prove that a diabetic has experienced dawn phenomenon. If the insulin in a diabetic wears-off during the night, then that diabetic will have a high blood glucose reading in the morning. If a waking diabetic has rebounded from a low blood glucose level during the night, then that diabetic will also have a high glucose reading in the morning.
Diabetics have learned how to control their diabetes. Can you control the dawn phenomenon? Can you work toward elimination of the occurrence of that phenomenon? The answer is no, but that does not mean that the diabetic must abandon all hope for taming the dawn phenomenon. A diabetic can strive to have a better managed effort, an effort directed at creation of a more tamed dawn phenomenon.
Like the control of diabetes, the taming of the dawn phenomenon demands the adoption of certain life style changes. As with the control of diabetes, those changes focus on the nature of foods eaten by the diabetic, and the times at which those foods should be eaten. Those changes can also relate to how a diabetic handles administration of daily insulin.
Some diabetics have found that they can tame the dawn phenomenon by lowering the amount of insulin taken during the day. That change depresses the chances that the diabetic might experience a sudden midnight insulin low. Should the body sense such a midnight low, then the body will call for a surge in the production of glucose.
Other diabetics intent on taming the dawn phenomenon have used an alternate trick. They have found that they can moderate their morning blood glucose level by eating a bedtime snack. A resistant starch makes a good snack, and there are products on the market that contain a resistant starch.
Both Extend Bars and Maize 3-in-1 Fiber contain a resistant starch. Because they contain such a starch, they can help to improve the body’s insulin sensitivity during the night. Still, those packaged snacks do not work for everyone. A good and natural bedtime snack is a green apple. The slow digestion of that apple moves the body’s biochemistry into a region that encourages the taming of the dawn phenomenon.
There is yet a third way to tame dawn phenomenon, but it only works in a diabetes patient who does not undergo decidedly low blood glucose at night. This third way to tame the dawn phenomenon calls for the taking of added insulin at bedtime.
Most diabetics dread the dawn phenomen
on and don't want to wake up to a high blood glucose reading. Such a reading can ruin the day.
Still, dawn phenomenon does not demonstrate variance from the body’s natural rhythm. In fact, dawn phenomenon occurs when the body’s natural hormones tell the liver to release stored glucose. The taming of dawn phenomenon demands performance by the body of a careful balancing act. The level of the hormones that target the liver must be balanced against the level of insulin in the body.
A patient with diabetes can not go without sleep. Yet the level of insulin in the body changes while the diabetic remains asleep. That change can lead to the release of more stored energy, putting more glucose in the blood stream.
The liver stores glucose in the form of glycogen. If the body senses a need for glucose, it conducts the needed biochemical changes. Appropriate hormones signal for completion of a process called glycogenolysis. That is the name that biochemists use to describe the conversion of stored energy in the liver (glycogen) into usable energy (glucose).
Of course the sleeping body does not get all of its energy from the glycogen in the liver. The sleeping body also carries out a process called gluconeogenesis. During gluconeogenesis, the body converts amino acids into glucose. Like the release of stored glycogen the creation of glucose from amino acids occurs in response to hormonal signals.
The body does not count on the signal from a single endocrine gland.. The body of the sleeping diabetic responds to signals from several different glands. The pituitary gland produces growth hormone. The adrenal cortex produces cortisol. The alpha cells in the pancreas make glucagons. The outer layer of the adrenal gland sends out a chemical called epinephrine. Those hormones manage to raise the blood glucose level.
Together, those hormonal signals cause the cells to become more insulin resistant. Together, the production of those signals triggers the release of stored energy. Those signals are thus responsible for the resulting rise in the level of the blood glucose.
A diabetic who has experienced dawn phenomenon has become more sensitive to the morning ingestion of carbohydrates. Still, that diabetic should never think about skipping breakfast. The rise in blood glucose that would be caused by the ingested breakfast food turns off the rise in blood glucose that was caused by the release of stored energy.
The taming of dawn phenomenon does not demand the foregoing of food.. In fact the patient with diabetes should consider having a healthful snack at bedtime, in addition to the mandatory breakfast. That snack might include peanut butter, cheese and deli meats.
None of those foods will pass quickly through the digestive system or will cause a sudden rise in the blood glucose level of the sleeping diabetic. The ingestion at bedtime of those foods can aid the taming of dawn phenomenon.
Still, a high blood glucose reading in the morning does not prove that a diabetic has experienced dawn phenomenon. If the insulin in a diabetic wears-off during the night, then that diabetic will have a high blood glucose reading in the morning. If a waking diabetic has rebounded from a low blood glucose level during the night, then that diabetic will also have a high glucose reading in the morning.
Diabetics have learned how to control their diabetes. Can you control the dawn phenomenon? Can you work toward elimination of the occurrence of that phenomenon? The answer is no, but that does not mean that the diabetic must abandon all hope for taming the dawn phenomenon. A diabetic can strive to have a better managed effort, an effort directed at creation of a more tamed dawn phenomenon.
Like the control of diabetes, the taming of the dawn phenomenon demands the adoption of certain life style changes. As with the control of diabetes, those changes focus on the nature of foods eaten by the diabetic, and the times at which those foods should be eaten. Those changes can also relate to how a diabetic handles administration of daily insulin.
Some diabetics have found that they can tame the dawn phenomenon by lowering the amount of insulin taken during the day. That change depresses the chances that the diabetic might experience a sudden midnight insulin low. Should the body sense such a midnight low, then the body will call for a surge in the production of glucose.
Other diabetics intent on taming the dawn phenomenon have used an alternate trick. They have found that they can moderate their morning blood glucose level by eating a bedtime snack. A resistant starch makes a good snack, and there are products on the market that contain a resistant starch.
Both Extend Bars and Maize 3-in-1 Fiber contain a resistant starch. Because they contain such a starch, they can help to improve the body’s insulin sensitivity during the night. Still, those packaged snacks do not work for everyone. A good and natural bedtime snack is a green apple. The slow digestion of that apple moves the body’s biochemistry into a region that encourages the taming of the dawn phenomenon.
There is yet a third way to tame dawn phenomenon, but it only works in a diabetes patient who does not undergo decidedly low blood glucose at night. This third way to tame the dawn phenomenon calls for the taking of added insulin at bedtime.
Most diabetics dread the dawn phenomen
Still, dawn phenomenon does not demonstrate variance from the body’s natural rhythm. In fact, dawn phenomenon occurs when the body’s natural hormones tell the liver to release stored glucose. The taming of dawn phenomenon demands performance by the body of a careful balancing act. The level of the hormones that target the liver must be balanced against the level of insulin in the body.
A patient with diabetes can not go without sleep. Yet the level of insulin in the body changes while the diabetic remains asleep. That change can lead to the release of more stored energy, putting more glucose in the blood stream.
The liver stores glucose in the form of glycogen. If the body senses a need for glucose, it conducts the needed biochemical changes. Appropriate hormones signal for completion of a process called glycogenolysis. That is the name that biochemists use to describe the conversion of stored energy in the liver (glycogen) into usable energy (glucose).
Of course the sleeping body does not get all of its energy from the glycogen in the liver. The sleeping body also carries out a process called gluconeogenesis. During gluconeogenesis, the body converts amino acids into glucose. Like the release of stored glycogen the creation of glucose from amino acids occurs in response to hormonal signals.
The body does not count on the signal from a single endocrine gland.. The body of the sleeping diabetic responds to signals from several different glands. The pituitary gland produces growth hormone. The adrenal cortex produces cortisol. The alpha cells in the pancreas make glucagons. The outer layer of the adrenal gland sends out a chemical called epinephrine. Those hormones manage to raise the blood glucose level.
Together, those hormonal signals cause the cells to become more insulin resistant. Together, the production of those signals triggers the release of stored energy. Those signals are thus responsible for the resulting rise in the level of the blood glucose.
A diabetic who has experienced dawn phenomenon has become more sensitive to the morning ingestion of carbohydrates. Still, that diabetic should never think about skipping breakfast. The rise in blood glucose that would be caused by the ingested breakfast food turns off the rise in blood glucose that was caused by the release of stored energy.
The taming of dawn phenomenon does not demand the foregoing of food.. In fact the patient with diabetes should consider having a healthful snack at bedtime, in addition to the mandatory breakfast. That snack might include peanut butter, cheese and deli meats.
None of those foods will pass quickly through the digestive system or will cause a sudden rise in the blood glucose level of the sleeping diabetic. The ingestion at bedtime of those foods can aid the taming of dawn phenomenon.
