You might reach for a soft drink or a biscuit without thinking twice. After all, it’s just a sweet treat. But when that treat becomes part of your everyday routine, your body starts to feel the effects. Here’s what happens inside your body when sugar becomes a daily habit.
Sugar Spikes Mess With Your System
Almost any sweet you prepare is going to increase your blood sugar. So your insulin will jump into emergency measures to get this sugar down. Your body works harder and harder as more sugar comes in.
Over time, your cells stop responding to insulin. This is known as insulin resistance. It’s an early sign that type 2 diabetes may be on its way.
The CDC has found that already, almost 1 in 3 American adults has prediabetes and does not know it. These are usually daily sugar habits that produce the outcomes of all this.
Too Much Sugar Affects Your Liver and Heart
Your body can’t just use sugar and be done with it. Extra gets stored as fat, often in unwanted places. All that extra fat goes to your liver, particularly if you eat foods heavy in fructose. A deposit of this type can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
According to the Cleveland Clinic, sugar impacts your liver in the same way as alcohol. Whenever your liver is experiencing issues, it will almost always have an effect on your heart as well.
Mood Swings and Mental Fog Can Sneak In
Sugar makes your blood sugar rise quickly, so it is soon followed by a big crash. Once that high has worn off, you might not so much be choked with a headache as feel tired, irritable, and slightly dazed instead. If any of these cycles are occurring frequently, they can have a negative impact on your mental state.
A group of scientists publishing in the journal Scientific Reports discovered that men who eat a lot of sugar each day have a higher risk of depression. If your brain is always bouncing from one energy high to another, you can bet your mood will follow that same up-and-down pattern too.
Sugar Speeds Up Skin Ageing
Your skin doesn’t like sugar either. When sugar sticks to proteins like collagen and elastin, the ones that keep your skin firm, it starts to break them down. This process is called glycation.
Eventually, your skin stops looking firm and smooth. The American Academy of Dermatology points out that too much sugar can age your skin faster than anything else.
It Can Disrupt Your Sleep
Sugar can be more than just sweet. It also boosts the body’s stress hormone, cortisol, which can make it harder to get a good night’s sleep long-term and mess with your internal clock
A study has shown that people who consumed higher levels of added sugar had weaker-sounding and more broken sleep. So if your nights feel restless, your evening snacks could be part of the problem.
Hidden Sugar Is Everywhere
Products that are baked, beverages, and confections are all examples of common sources of sugar. But there are also everyday foods containing sugar. It’s in oatmeal, yogurt, ketchup, and even bread. On the label, you should keep an eye out for ingredients such as dextrose, maltose, high-fructose corn syrup, and cane juice.
The American Heart Association states that a man can consume no more than 36 grams of additional sugar a day and a woman no more than 25 grams. But many people exceed these limits without knowing it. One of the easiest ways to start cutting back is to learn how to read ingredient lists.
The Bottom Line: Listen to Your Body
Sugar may have a pleasant flavor, but your body senses when you consume an excessive amount of it. It has an effect on more than you might imagine, ranging from your liver to your brain and your skin to your sleep. The encouraging news is that you have the ability to combat the negative impacts that sugar has on your health.
Perfectness is not a must for you. An improvement in the fuel that you provide for your body, one choice at a time, can make a major effect.
