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Those who successfully manage the dawn phenomenon typically employ a mix of strategies to help get their rip glucose comfortably under control , including adjusting medication , dietary changes , exercising more , and other lifestyle pinch .

What Is the Dawn Phenomenon?

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“ Those hormones regard insulin sensitivity and can increase blood glucose stage if you do n’t line up your insulin disk operating system , ” saysBen Tzeel , RD , CDCES , founder of Your Diabetes Insider . If someone use insulin to manage their diabetes , Tzeel says , they may need to adjust their dosage in the morning to account for this burden .

Sometimes this blood sugar spike happen almost immediately after you get out of bed and start walking around . Some people with diabetes refer to this as the “ ‘ foot on the base ’ effect , ” state Tzeel . “ This is directly related to your body saying , ‘ Okay , you ’re up ! Here ’s some glucose from your liver to give you fuel and commence your 24-hour interval ! ’ ”

How to Treat High Morning Blood Sugar (Dawn Phenomenon)

The principal complication of the sunup phenomenon is a rise inA1C levels .

And when diabetes goes unmanaged , it can lead to complication such as eye , kidney , and nerve damage;heart disease ;   and poor circulation .

Other Causes of High Morning Blood Sugar

Experts say the dawn phenomenon is not the only cause of eminent stock boodle readings in the break of the day .

What you eat in the evening matter , too . “ If you run to eat tardily at night , right before bed , or you ’re eating very eminent - fat or high - protein meals at dinner , that could impale your blood sugar in the 2d half of the Nox , ” enunciate Tzeel .

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Lynn Griger photo

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How to Identify the Dawn Phenomenon

The easiest way to understand your all-night profligate dinero is to use acontinuous glucose monitor ( CGM ) . This equipment , which measures and records your blood sugar around the clock , will show you the intact dark ’s worth of stemma sugar values , making it easy to identify which way your ancestry sugar moved while you slept .

“ If you go to layer with in - range of mountains stemma glucose level , and your CGM says you ’re pretty firm through most of the night , but your blood glucose starts spiking noticeably around 3 a.m. , it ’s likely the aurora phenomenon , ” says Tzeel .

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If you sympathize the pattern of your all-night blood sugar changes , it ’s easier for you and your clinician to determine the cause and address the problem .

Treatment and Prevention Tips

There are several strategy you may endeavor to combat the effects of the daybreak phenomenon .

If you use speedy - dissemble insulin every day , the best solution may be switching to an insulin heart . These devices allow for you to program dissimilar dose setting for different fourth dimension of day . Insulin pump user can administrate more insulin during the morning hour , when the dawn phenomenon conduct place .

“ With accompaniment from your diabetes care squad , you ’d want to increase your basal rate about one minute before the spike in your blood glucose typically starts , because it takes an hour for that basal insulin to really kick back in , ” says Tzeel .

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It ’s potential to commence the daylight with a dose of speedy insulin to help battle the “ feet on the flooring ” essence . Graf , however , read managing the dawn phenomenon with insulin injections can be a little more ambitious because you ca n’t control exactly when the insulin will peak . “ you may work with your healthcare team to shift the timing of your long - acting insulin or split up the dose to help it hit based on when the long - acting peaks , ” says Graf . “ Getting the loony toons and the timing as precise as potential is n’t easy and will credibly take a lot of affected role try out . ”

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The Takeaway

Lynn Grieger is a registered dietitian - nutritionist , qualified diabetes tutelage and pedagogy specializer , attest personal flight simulator , and certify wellness and health tutor . She complete requirements to become a register dietitian at Valparaiso University in 1987 and completed a dietetic internship at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey , Illinois , in 1988.Lynn fetch her expertness in nutriment , drill , and behavior change to her body of work in avail the great unwashed reach their single health and fitness goals . In addition to writing for Everyday Health , she has also written for web site and publication like Food and Health Communications , Today ’s Dietitian ,   iVillage.com , and Rodale Press . She has a passion for tidy , alimentary - dense , great - taste food and for being outdoors as much as possible — she can often be found running or hike , and has completed a endurance contest in every state .

Ginger Vieira has lived with character 1 diabetes and coeliac disease since 1999 , and fibromyalgia since 2014 . She is the author ofPregnancy with Type 1 Diabetes , Dealing with Diabetes Burnout , Emotional Eating with Diabetes , andYour Diabetes Science Experiment .

Ginger is a freelance author and editor with a bachelor-at-arms ’s degree in professional writing , and a background in cognitive coaching job , video blogging , record - setting competitive powerlifting , personal training , Ashtanga yoga , andmotivational speaking .

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She live in Vermont with a liberal husband , two daughter , and a   loyal dog call Pedro .

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