It is estimated to occur in up to 75% of T2D patients although severity varies widely. It occurs both in those treated with insulin and those that are not
Just before awakening (around 4am), the body secretes higher levels of growth hormone, cortisol, glucagon and adrenalin. Together, these are called the counter-regulatory hormones. That is, they counter the blood sugar lowering effects of insulin, meaning that they raise blood sugars.
These normal circadian hormonal increases prepare our bodies for the day ahead. That is, glucagon tells the liver to start pushing out some glucose.After all, we are never quite so relaxed as deep sleep. So these hormones gently get us ready to wake up
Hormones are secreted in a pulsatile manner peaking in the early morning hours then falling to low levels during the day.
Think about it this way. Your body has the ability to store food energy as sugar (glycogen) and fat. When you eat, you store food energy. As you sleep (fasting), your body needs to release this stored energy. Around 4am or so, knowing that you will soon be waking up, your body prepares you for the upcoming day. It does this by increasing counter-regulatory hormones to release sugar into the blood. You can see that glucose production falls overnight and starts to ramp up around 4 am. In order to prevent the sugars from rising too much, insulin increases to act as a ‘brake’ on the system.
Now, what happens in the situation where you have T2D, or high insulin resistance? First, the technical explanation. Around 4 am, counter regulatory hormones surge and insulin is also released to counter this. However, in T2D, the body has high insulin resistance, meaning that the insulin has minimal effect at lowering the blood sugars. Since the counter regulatory hormones (mostly growth hormone) still are working, blood sugars rise unopposed, and therefore much higher than the normal non diabetic situation.
The Dawn Phenomenon, or higher blood sugars during fasting does not mean you are doing anything wrong. It’s a normal occurrence. It just means that you have more work to do.
Some people have normal blood sugars except for the Dawn Phenomenon. This still indicates that there is too much sugar stuffed into their liver. They need to keep burning down that sugar. It means there is much more work to be done before they are cleared of their diabetes.
Think about it this way. The Dawn Phenomenon is simply moving sugar from body stores (liver) into the blood. That’s it. If your body stores are filled to bursting, then you will expel as much of that sugar as possible. By itself it is neither good nor bad. It is simply a marker that your body has too much sugar.
Solution? Simple.
Either don’t put any sugar in (LCHF) or burn it off (Fasting).
Even better? LCHF + IF
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