Women's health and especially issues like fertility and weight are very complex and sensitive at the same time. There are many rumors circulating when it comes to cycle health, natural fertility and hormones. We decided to take the most common questions and statements around women's health, fertility and glucose and do a fact check.
The fact check on women's health
1️⃣ Controlling blood sugar levels can help women maintain their weight.
💡 Fact: Women tend to gain more weight than men. This may be due in part to the fact that women accumulate more body fat and generally have more cravings (premenstrual syndrome). Learn more about the connection between blood sugar and weight control in our blog post.
2️⃣ Optimizing blood sugar levels can help women sleep better.
💡 Fact: act: Regardless of whether men or women need more rest, the fact is that both sexes do not get enough sleep. Sleep and blood glucose levels have a bidirectional relationship. This means that poor sleep affects blood sugar levels, which in turn can affect the quality of sleep. Over time, poor sleep leads to serious conditions such as obesity, coronary heart disease and diabetes, and shortens life expectancy (as does poor blood sugar control). Women are more likely to suffer from insomnia than men. This is due to hormonal changes associated with menstruation, pregnancy and menopause, which can alter women's circadian rhythms, contributing to insomnia. In general, women are more prone to depression and anxiety, as well as weight gain. The latter can be explained by the fact that women tend to have more body fat and a greater desire for food.
3️⃣ Optimizing blood sugar levels can help women overcome hormonal changes
💡 Fact: The female reproductive system is closely linked to energy metabolism and hormonal changes. This means that female hormones regulate weight, body composition (fat storage and distribution) and energy requirements in women. Under normal conditions, female hormones fluctuate during the menstrual cycle and affect our energy metabolism. Women may have more difficulty losing weight and generally lose less weight than men who participate in weight management programs. This may be due in part to gender differences in energy metabolism and appetite control caused by the release of reproductive hormones.
4️⃣ Optimizing blood sugar levels can promote natural fertility
💡 Fact: Women's fertility is influenced by lifestyle factors and environmental conditions such as stressful occupations, unbalanced diet and unhealthy nutrition. In addition, normal body weight and neither restricted nor excessive energy intake are important for normal female reproductive function. Several mechanisms have been studied for how elevated blood glucose levels can affect female fertility, primarily through the absence of ovulation, disruption of ovulation and endothelium, and ovarian inflammation and aging.
5️⃣ Optimizing blood sugar levels can help our microbiome.
💡 Fact: High blood glucose levels can negatively impact the female (and male) microbiome; however, there is a bidirectional relationship (similar to sleep) between blood glucose levels and the microbiome. Elevated blood glucose levels lead to changes in our gut bacteria that have serious long-term consequences, including various diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, T2DM, immune system impairment, and negative nervous system modulation, with the gut-brain axis leading to depression, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease.
Blood glucose monitoring to promote general health
In short, there are many reasons to control your blood sugar levels to stay healthy. For women in particular, it's crucial to understand what their bodies really need at which stage of the cycle to keep them properly hydrated. Whether you want to increase your fertility, lose weight, or simply improve your sleep quality and energy levels, blood glucose monitoring will help you achieve your goals.
