It is a real ****** indeed that diabetes is one of those conditions that stress really impacts, and not in a good way. My own feeling is stress is a fact of life - so the key is to manage it better, rather than imagining life without it. (Sigh. Wouldn't that be nice?) (And alas, I do waste time imagining life without it!) It's about the ticker-health really - keeping cardio vascular events and strokes at bay. I've been going through a particularly stressful period lately, and thinking it through, in relation to my diabetes-heart thing. Walking has been good right from the diabetes-diagnosis start for me. Getting out in nature and all that. Breathe in the air. Look at the leaves - that kind of thing. Now I am thinking meditation. As in kick-starting it again.
Also - watching a good comedy on the box or at the movies! Laughing is very good for lowering stress. And common garden variety socialising - hanging out with friends. My BG levels get wonderfully low (well - comparatively!) after i do that a while.