Blog - Diabetes Management
5 Ways to Keep Your Glucose in Check Over the Holidays
The holidays are a time for fun and to connect with those you love. However, when you are living with diabetes, taking a break can also make managing diabetes more challenging as your daily routines are disrupted. As the holidays near, planning ahead and making time for self-care as much as possible during your commitments is helpful.
Overcoming 5 common challenges to managing diabetes over the holidays
With more activities and social commitments on your calendar, you may experience an impact on your routines and mental health. Whether you’re having a quiet holiday or travelling abroad, here’s how to manage some of the more common challenges.
1. Changes to your daily routines
The holiday season may cause changes to your lifestyle. You might take time off from work, host friends and family in your home, attend more social events, or take a break from your exercise routine. A sudden change in habits, such as eating and exercise, can affect your blood glucose levels.1 Adapting your routine while managing diabetes often requires time to plan and readjust.2
This means giving yourself time to check your blood glucose levels regularly and ensuring that you have access to all of your usual care supplies, like medications and blood glucose monitoring tools. Keep a journal on hand to closely track what you’re doing each day. Note any changes to your activity levels, diet, and medication doses, and adapt your treatments and self-care activities accordingly.*
2. More travelling
Travelling out of town or abroad can mean even greater changes to your routine since you could be far from your everyday environment and support systems. While there’s no reason for diabetes to stop you from enjoying travel, there are some things to keep in mind. Before you go, it’s recommended that you:1
- Pack more insulin, medication and supplies than you think you’ll need for the trip (in case of flight delays, lost baggage, etc.).
- Get travel insurance with diabetes-related coverage.
- Prepare paperwork, such as letters from your healthcare team, your prescription and documents needed for flying with medical devices—like insulin pumps and real-time continuous glucose monitoring (rtCGM) systems.
- Pack a diabetes ID, such as a bracelet or card.
- Travel with extra snacks.
- Research where diabetes treatments are available at your destination, as well as food options, drop-in gyms or leisure centres, and support for any rtCGM apps you may use.
- Talk to your diabetes care team to create a self-care travel plan, especially if you’re crossing several time zones.
- Consider how to store your insulin, if needed, to keep it safe during temperature changes.
When travelling, try to stick as close as you can to your daily routines, including checking your blood glucose, eating healthy foods and exercising.
3. Dealing with cold or hot weather
Whether you’re travelling or staying home, make a plan to handle different climates and temperature fluctuations as they can affect your blood glucose levels. Cold temperatures cause your body to release stress hormones, which lowers insulin production, causing blood glucose spikes.1 On the other hand, cold body temperatures slow down insulin absorption, which can cause hypoglycaemia when the insulin is suddenly absorbed as you warm up.3 Similarly, extended sun exposure can lower glucose levels.2
To help avoid these risks, regulate your body temperature by wearing layers in cold weather and staying covered and hydrated in the heat. Find ways to stay active indoors if you’re feeling unmotivated to exercise outdoors, such as yoga or using a treadmill. Make sure you have extra medications and supplies on hand in case weather-related delays limit access to clinics or pharmacies. If needed, you can also keep your insulin stored in temperature-regulating containers to keep it working properly. Consider checking your blood glucose more often than usual if you’re in particularly cold or hot places.
4. Changes to your diet over the holidays
Holiday food and drinks are usually high in carbohydrates and sugars. Living with diabetes doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy these treats; it's just that you need to take some precautions to ensure that your blood glucose doesn’t spike.
If your diet changes during your holidays, keep a close eye on what you eat and drink. Counting carbs can be a helpful way to make sure that your activity levels and food consumption are balanced.1 Speak with your diabetes care team about how to plan for extra insulin or medication doses and adjust your exercise routine to offset dietary changes.* Above all, make sure that you check your blood glucose levels often so you can spot unusual changes as soon as possible.
5. Less time for self-care
Travel, family visits and other socialising can make it harder to maintain self-care. This time of year is stressful for many, and stress can cause blood glucose spikes in people living with diabetes. This is because your body responds to stress by releasing hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which make it harder for insulin to work properly.1
When managing diabetes over the holidays, it’s important to make time for yourself. Beyond healthy eating, regular exercise and monitoring your blood glucose, self-care also means looking after your mental health. For example, consider taking time alone between social commitments, asking for help or getting extra care from your support system. Now may even be a good time to take up meditation, yoga and other mindfulness practices, which are linked to lowering blood glucose levels.2
Why use CGM to manage glucose levels?
Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems allow you to monitor your glucose levels at any time without the need for finger pricks or scanning.† If you’re travelling to a different climate, eating rich foods or experiencing stress, you’ll likely need to check your glucose levels even more than usual. In this case, a CGM system is much more convenient than blood glucose or flash glucose monitors.
Keep your diabetes in check over the holidays
If you’re living with diabetes, one of the best things you can do to take care of yourself over the holidays is to monitor your blood glucose levels closely. A real-time CGM system, like Dexcom CGM Systems, makes it easier to maintain this essential part of your self-care. With a CGM system, you can spend less time testing and more time enjoying this special time of year.
Footnotes
* All diabetes management decisions should be discussed with your diabetes care team.
† If your glucose alerts and readings from the Dexcom system do not match symptoms or expectations, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions.
1 Mayo Clinic. Diabetes management: How lifestyle, daily routine affect blood sugar. Published 3 June 2022. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/in-depth/diabetes-management/art-20047963
2 Fritz H. The influence of daily routines on engaging in diabetes self-management. Scand J Occup Ther. 2014;21(3):232-240. doi:10.3109/11038128.2013.868033
3 Diabetes UK. Travelling With Diabetes. Accessed 13 November 2023. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/life-with-diabetes/travel
4 CDC. Managing Diabetes in Cold Weather. Last reviewed 4 January 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/features/managing-diabetes-cold-weather.html
5 Diabetes UK. Diabetes and Hot Weather. Accessed 13 November 2023. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/hot-weather
6 CDC. Carb Counting. Last reviewed 19 April 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/managing/eat-well/diabetes-and-carbohydrates.html
7 Diabetes UK. Stress and diabetes. Accessed 13 November 2023. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/emotions/stress
8 Diabetes.co.uk. Meditation can lower blood sugar levels as well as diabetes drugs, research suggests. Published 9 October 2022. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2022/oct/meditation-can-lower-blood-sugar-levels-as-well-as-diabetes-drugs-research-suggests.html
† If your glucose alerts and readings from the Dexcom system do not match symptoms or expectations, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions.
1 Mayo Clinic. Diabetes management: How lifestyle, daily routine affect blood sugar. Published 3 June 2022. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/in-depth/diabetes-management/art-20047963
2 Fritz H. The influence of daily routines on engaging in diabetes self-management. Scand J Occup Ther. 2014;21(3):232-240. doi:10.3109/11038128.2013.868033
3 Diabetes UK. Travelling With Diabetes. Accessed 13 November 2023. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/life-with-diabetes/travel
4 CDC. Managing Diabetes in Cold Weather. Last reviewed 4 January 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/features/managing-diabetes-cold-weather.html
5 Diabetes UK. Diabetes and Hot Weather. Accessed 13 November 2023. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/hot-weather
6 CDC. Carb Counting. Last reviewed 19 April 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/managing/eat-well/diabetes-and-carbohydrates.html
7 Diabetes UK. Stress and diabetes. Accessed 13 November 2023. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/emotions/stress
8 Diabetes.co.uk. Meditation can lower blood sugar levels as well as diabetes drugs, research suggests. Published 9 October 2022. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2022/oct/meditation-can-lower-blood-sugar-levels-as-well-as-diabetes-drugs-research-suggests.html