“Those hormones affect insulin sensitivity and can increase blood glucose levels if you don’t adjust your insulin doses,” says Ben Tzeel, RD, CDCES, founder of Your Diabetes Insider. If someone uses insulin to manage their diabetes, Tzeel says, they may need to adjust their dosage in the morning to account for this effect.
Sometimes this blood sugar spike happens almost immediately after you get out of bed and start walking around. Some people with diabetes refer to this as the “‘feet on the floor’ effect,” says Tzeel. “This is directly related to your body saying, ‘Okay, you’re up! Here’s some glucose from your liver to give you fuel and start your day!’”
The main complication of the dawn phenomenon is a rise in A1C levels.
And when diabetes goes unmanaged, it can lead to complications such as eye, kidney, and nerve damage; heart disease; and poor circulation.
