Diabetes and Your Brain

Diabetes can be challenging, but knowing the many ways it affects your body can help you live your healthiest life while dealing with the disease. You might know that it can cause complications for your heart, kidneys and even eyes – but did you know diabetes can also affect your brain? Here’s what you should know – and do.

The Basics

Diabetes can affect your brain – and how well it works – in many ways. Here are some key takeaways from the experts at WebMD® and Healthline:

• Along with your heart, your blood vessels face the biggest threat from diabetes. This includes the important vessels in and connecting to your brain, which keep it working as it should.
• Diabetes can narrow and harden your arteries (a type of blood vessel), which can raise your risk of stroke.
• Your brain always needs sugar to do its job. Frequent swings of high and low blood sugar can damage it, disrupt your ability to think and concentrate, and more.
• Diabetes also causes nerve damage. All organs – and especially your brain – rely on healthy nerves.
• Scientists are still learning the exact ways diabetes might affect long-term memory and thinking skills, but recent studies have tied the disease to a possible increased risk of dementia.

Diabetes and Brain Fog

Along with possible links to long-term issues, diabetes can cause what’s known as “brain fog” – a term for cognitive impairments like lowered concentration, mood swings and memory problems that are usually shorter lived and go away if properly treated. Brain fog isn’t a medical disease – it’s the short-term response to blood sugar that’s too high or too low – but it still can cause many problems. Symptoms might include:

Steps To Keep Your Brain Healthy

Luckily, there are things you can do to help your brain and mind stay healthy.

• Most importantly, talk to your doctor and get their specific recommendations – they know your individual health and what’s uniquely best for you.
• Control your blood sugar to help treat (and prevent) brain fog. Don’t let your levels swing too high or low.
• Always take your diabetes medications exactly as prescribed – and never skip a dose.
• If you think your medications might be causing some of your difficulties thinking, concentrating or remembering, ask your doctor for their opinion. They’ll know if you might need to adjust or even switch your meds.
• Follow the dietary tips your doctor recommends – what you eat and drink can make a big difference.
• If you’re a member of one of our health plans, get one-on-one help managing your diabetes from a health coach, care coordinator or both. In most cases, these services don’t cost anything – they’re a built-in part of your plan, waiting for you to use. Simply call the number on the back of your member ID card to sign up for these programs or learn which might be best for you.
• If you’re not our member, ask your doctor to connect you with a certified diabetes educator – these educators can help in many of the same ways our care coordinators and health coaches do.

Finally, don’t forget to stay up to date with all your regular diabetes screenings and exams. These help keep you healthy and can catch any possible issues early on. Diabetes can make life complicated, but you have the knowledge and tools to live your healthiest life. You got this!

• For more resources on diabetes care and management, click here.
• If you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed taking care of your diabetes, check out these tips from Memorial Health.
• Click here to discover plenty of information, advice and more from Yakima Valley Memorial hospital.
• Learn how diabetes can affect your eyes too, in this article from Carle Health.
• Discover how education can help support your diabetes journey, in this podcast from Riverside Healthcare.
• Yum! Find tasty and healthy breakfast tips for people with diabetes on the OSF HealthCare blog, and general dining tips in this article from FirstHealth of the Carolinas.