Remember that silly/sarcastic quote that people were spouting off some time ago? The one about stress? Stress: The confusion created when one's mind overrides the body's basic desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately deserves it. I like it better when there are some choice words replaced, but this is a family place!

Stress comes in many forms, though, not just from anger and frustration, as the quote above demonstrates. Stress comes from having too much to do and not enough time to do it in; from lack of sleep; from poor blood sugar management; and a myriad other situations. All of which can wreak havoc on every part of your diabetes management.

Winter is a particularly stressful time for me, mainly because of our deadline schedule at work. As an agriculture publication, we inundate farmers with information during their downtime. So, instead of producing just one magazine a month, we do two. That's in addition to the other two magazines I work for. (You'll notice that the number of posts I've written this month is dramatically down from previous months. Heck, I wrote this post a week before I actually got it posted!)

In just the last two weeks, I've worked until 9 p.m. at least three times (which is VERY out of the ordinary for me), and my diet has severely suffered because of how much work I have crammed into one day. Which means I'm taking more insulin, sleeping less, and feeling the need to eat more. Yet another vicious cycle in my world.

Dealine pressure of any kind--getting your house clean for a party, work deadlines, helping your kids get their homework done--can make you eat at odd times, can make you eat things you don't normally eat, can make you forget to test or bolus. Stress isn't just the desire to choke the living daylights out of someone, it's a big part of our daily diabetes management that we have to take into consideration.