Let me ask you something. Can Insulin Resistance Cause Anxiety?
You sit down, but your heart is going faster than you expect. Your thoughts are circling and you cannot settle. Perhaps you’ve had blood tests and been told everything looks fine, or you’ve been told it is probably stress.
But what if there is more to the picture?
Anxiety is often approached from a mental-health perspective, and appropriate mental-health support is important. But our physical and metabolic health can also influence how we feel.
If anxiety or anxious feelings are occurring alongside fatigue, cravings, brain fog, disrupted sleep or energy crashes, it may be worth looking at metabolic health as one part of the bigger picture.
This is something I explore through metabolic health education at Purposeful Life, working with people in Glen Osmond, Williamstown in the Barossa Valley, and across the broader Adelaide region.
What Is Insulin Resistance?
Insulin is a hormone that helps regulate glucose in your bloodstream and enables glucose uptake into many tissues, particularly muscle and fat.
When cells become less responsive to insulin, the pancreas may compensate by producing more of it to help maintain blood glucose levels. This is known as insulin resistance.
Importantly, insulin resistance can develop well before type 2 diabetes is diagnosed. Blood glucose may remain within a normal range for some time because the body is compensating by producing additional insulin.
That’s one reason I encourage people to think about metabolic health as a bigger picture, rather than focusing on a single number.
Research has also identified associations between metabolic syndrome and anxiety, although this does not establish that insulin resistance directly causes anxiety. The relationship appears complex and researchers are continuing to investigate it.
The Brain, Blood Sugar and Anxiety-Like Symptoms
Your brain has significant energy demands and relies heavily on glucose.
However, there’s an important distinction here.
Most glucose uptake into the brain occurs through transporters that do not require insulin, so insulin resistance doesn’t simply stop glucose from reaching the brain in the way it can affect glucose uptake in some other tissues. Insulin does have important roles in the brain, and researchers continue to investigate the relationship between insulin signalling, metabolism, mood and cognition.
Changes in blood glucose can also produce physical sensations that may overlap with symptoms people associate with anxiety.
These can include feeling shaky, sweaty, hungry, light-headed, irritable or experiencing a racing heartbeat.
This doesn’t mean anxiety is simply a blood sugar problem.
It does mean that mental health, nervous-system health and metabolic health don’t necessarily exist in completely separate boxes.
And that’s where looking at the whole person becomes important.
Stress, Cortisol and Metabolic Health
Stress and metabolic health can also influence one another.
When we’re under stress, hormones including cortisol and adrenaline help mobilise energy so the body can respond to a perceived challenge.
When stress becomes prolonged, it can also affect sleep, appetite, food choices, physical activity and glucose regulation.
At the same time, uncomfortable physical sensations associated with fluctuations in blood glucose can sometimes feel similar to anxiety.
Rather than automatically assuming one is causing the other, I think a better question is:
Could several things be contributing to how I’m feeling?
That is very different from assuming every symptom needs to be looked at separately.
Do Any of These Sound Familiar?
Consider whether you’re regularly experiencing several of the following:
- Anxious or unsettled feelings that seem worse between meals or in the afternoon
- Feeling better after eating, followed by another energy crash
- Difficulty sleeping despite feeling exhausted
- Mood changes that seem connected with eating patterns
- Strong cravings for sugar or carbohydrates, particularly when stressed
- Brain fog alongside fatigue or anxious feelings
- Afternoon energy crashes
- Feeling hungry again soon after eating
Individually, these symptoms can have many different causes.
But when several are occurring together, they may be worth discussing with your healthcare professional and considering as part of your broader metabolic-health picture.
Why I Look at the Whole Person
At Purposeful Life, I don’t believe in looking at every symptom in isolation.
Rather than immediately asking:
“Which symptom do we need to fix?”
I prefer to ask:
“What is happening across the bigger picture?”
Your nervous system, metabolic health, lifestyle, sleep, nutrition, stress, thoughts and behaviours can all influence how you feel.
This is why my approach brings together several different areas of wellbeing rather than expecting one modality to provide every answer.
How I Can Help
My work at Purposeful Life may include:
Metabolic Health Education
Helping you better understand insulin resistance, blood glucose regulation, nutrition, lifestyle and factors that can influence metabolic health.
Spinal Flow Technique™
A gentle approach used as part of my nervous-system-focused wellbeing work. There is no cracking, manipulation or force.
PEMF & Terahertz
Complementary wellness modalities used within my practice as part of my cellular-health approach.
NLP Coaching
Exploring thought patterns, beliefs and behaviours that may be contributing to stress or keeping you stuck.
Breathwork
Practical breathing techniques that can support relaxation and self-regulation.
The aim isn’t to throw every modality at every person.
It’s to understand what is happening for you first and then consider an appropriate place to begin.
What About Nutrition and Metabolic Products?
Nutrition and lifestyle are important parts of metabolic health.
As part of my metabolic health education, I may also discuss Unicity products and how they can fit within a broader approach to nutrition, lifestyle and metabolic wellbeing.
I am a registered Unicity distributor and can provide information about the products or assist you in setting up an account if you choose to purchase them.
Product purchase is entirely optional.
Could Metabolic Health Be Part of Your Bigger Picture?
If you’re experiencing anxiety or anxious feelings alongside fatigue, cravings, poor sleep, brain fog, energy crashes or difficulty managing your weight, it doesn’t automatically mean you have insulin resistance.
And it doesn’t mean that anxiety should be ignored or treated as purely metabolic.
But it may be worth asking whether your metabolic health deserves a closer look alongside the other factors affecting how you feel.
At Purposeful Life, I work from two South Australian locations:
Abergeldie House, Glen Osmond
Williamstown, Barossa Valley
If you’d like to understand more about insulin resistance and metabolic health, you can learn more through my Metabolic Health page or get in touch if you’re unsure where to begin.
Ready to Explore the Bigger Picture?
You don’t need to have all the answers before you start.
If any of this resonates, you can learn more about how I work with insulin resistance at Purposeful Life, or reach out directly for a free phone consultation.
Call or text: 0481 877 860
Email: hello@purposefullife.com.au
Learn more: https://purposefullife.com.au/services/insulin-resistance/