can hot weather affect blood sugar?

Like with so many aspects of diabetes, I think this really varies a lot from person to person. I personally need less insulin when it is very cold weather, but I need to be careful in hot weather as I tend to assume my BS is high if I am thirsty ... but in hot weather I'm more likely to just be thirsty because of the heat! Blood testing is the only answer. On a plus side, it's a lot easier to get a blood sample when your body is warm - really tricky with cold numb fingers in the middle of winter!

Yes it can. Long periods of inactivity in the sun can affect diabetes control, making blood glucose levels higher than usual, so be careful!


Edited by a mod

Mark-optimistic said:

I was just curios if weather had an affect on diabetics blood sugar

Also is insulin as efficient when it's really hot as it is right now. Can't complain though I suppose!

Shout out to all my fellow diabetic today, keep smiling

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If you are on insulin, definitely. In my case, I have to watch out for hypos. Also if it is very hot and you are uncomfortable, you can miss your hypo symptoms, especially sweating. And doing something energetic in the sun is double trouble. Carry something sweet!

I definately go low in heat espeaily if I'm active. Festivals in hot weather and walking around , I find it hard to keep bs up. Chocolate covered strawberry here I come.....

Hello everyone, this is my first post although I have followed various threads for some time. I made the LCHF change some time ago and made excellent progress as a result. However I am becoming a little concerned about my BG levels over the last month. It started in France where it was extremely hot and I became dehydrated very suddenly and since then my daytime BG levels have risen to around 8-9. I start around 4.8 and by lunch time I am 8.2'ish plus without any carbs. I suspected the heat may be a large contributory factor hence I went looking for a thread like this one. It would appear from some of the comments here that heat is a possible cause, although I am not sure what changes I can make to improve things at the moment. It is worth mentioning here that I am on my second kidney transplant (3 years ago) and that I am on Steroids this time as the transplant is HLA incompatible which means that the kidney was not a match. I have done a lot of work with regards the steroids and take my Diabetes medication (gliclizide) at the right times to offset the standard daily BG rise that the steroids cause. I had my BG down to around 5.5-6 on most days and could with a good amount of exercise eat a small cake now and then or a piece of home-made bread with my soup. At 8.2+ that is out of the question. Any suggestions gratefully received.

My blood sugars tend to rise in hot weather , we've got a heatwave here at the moment and I've seen ~ 1 to 1.5 mmol increase in my fasting blood sugar. The opposite happens in the winter months, especially when the temperature dips into the minus's.

I've never quite understood this phenomena and I never allow myself to dehydrate.

In hot weather my bg levels are so much better. Just keep hydrated and insulin out of the sun. It is also a relief to be able to get blood out easily when monitoring bg levels.

In last two weeks during the heat wave my BG levels have gone from 6 7's to 15 ! With me eating or doing nothing differently

Normally I find hot weather makes insulin action inconsistent and sometimes low but recently during a holiday in Italy where temperatures were between 34 & 37 I refigerated my insulin in hotels but found I need more insulin--only thing I can think of is because I was using pork insulin rather than human..............???

Preacherman1407 said:

On my last two fishing trips in hot conditions I noticed that my BS level went from 6.1(at 9.30am two hours after breakfast) to 8.2 at 12.30 before lunch and with no snacking between times.

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Possibly a liver dump if your b/s zooming down in the heat?

Mark-optimistic said:

I was just curios if weather had an affect on diabetics blood sugar

Also is insulin as efficient when it's really hot as it is right now. Can't complain though I suppose!

Shout out to all my fellow diabetic today, keep smiling

Click to expand...

Mark-optimistic said:

I was just curios if weather had an affect on diabetics blood sugar

Also is insulin as efficient when it's really hot as it is right now. Can't complain though I suppose!

Shout out to all my fellow diabetic today, keep smiling

Click to expand...

Hi all
My daughter is 5 years and after the really hot days i have struggled to keep her blood sugars up in the end i gave her less insulin but even that didn't work but she has know settled down. Oh the joys!!!

Mark-optimistic said:

I was just curios if weather had an affect on diabetics blood sugar

Also is insulin as efficient when it's really hot as it is right now. Can't complain though I suppose!

Shout out to all my fellow diabetic today, keep smiling

Click to expand...

Hi all,
I moved to Cyprus from the UK in July 2012 and when registering at the hospital I had to have a blood test wherein I was found to be diabetic (even though I had had problems in the UK it was never picked up on!) I have an extremely good diabetic Dr. looking after me (so good she even diagnosed a brain tumor in one of her diabetic patients!). On my last HbA1c test my reading was quite high even though I had not changed my eating or exercise habits. This test was done in the cooler months. She was in agreement with me that it was probably because of the cooler weather but wanted another test done a couple of months down the road, which I have yet to do due to various problems in getting back to the hospital at a time to see her (don't break your ankle, it's not a clever thing to do, especially if you are the driver!) However, I test my blood every day and since the warmer weather my readings have been lower and now we are into August and we have temperatures into the high 30's (100f) they have been substantially lower and I have had a few hypos. So for me it would appear that the temperature does affect my readings. Not complaining about the heat though when I can swim in the pool at 9 or 10 at night...very refreshing!

Best Wishes to all
Sheila

Mark-optimistic said:

I was just curios if weather had an affect on diabetics blood sugar

Also is insulin as efficient when it's really hot as it is right now. Can't complain though I suppose!

Shout out to all my fellow diabetic today, keep smiling

Click to expand...

Mine have been running almost consistently high since this heatwave has hit us, the only hypo I've had since it came was this morning, and I suspect that I'd taken too much of my long acting insulin! As gross as it sounds, I also find myself getting really sweaty when the rest of my family is coping well with the heat. I've had to change clothes several times a day the last week or so.

I was about to ask the question myself. I had noticed my BG was a bit higher recently. I thought it must be down to the increased temperature as I have done and eaten nothing differently. I was unable to tell last summer, as being newly diagnosed it was all a learning exercise and I had nothing to compare it with. Now with much more data recorded I do.

Kristin251 said:

I definately go low in heat espeaily if I'm active. Festivals in hot weather and walking around , I find it hard to keep bs up. Chocolate covered strawberry here I come.....

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Kristin!!! Good to read you again. Shouldn't it be chocolate covered avocado, or alternatively avocado covered strawberry?

Triffo said:

by lunch time I am 8.2'ish plus without any carbs

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Do you really mean without ANY carbs, or just without the big hitters such as rice, bread, cake etc?

HeidiWoodward said:

In hot weather my bg levels are so much better. Just keep hydrated and insulin out of the sun. It is also a relief to be able to get blood out easily when monitoring bg levels.

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Oh dear, there I was thinking my low carb diet was suddenly much more successful, and all the time it was just the heatwave giving me nice low bgs. Sigh!