Its True. Music Can Help Fight Diabetes

Mood and emotional stability have an important influence on the wellbeing of people with diabetes. It’s well known that diabetes can affect your mood and mental outlook, but it’s also true that feeling anxious or depressed can make managing your diabetes more difficult and thus make your blood sugar control less effective. In this article, we’ll take a look at the ways in which music can help you manage your diabetes, whether it’s to improve your mood or lower your stress levels in the face of another serious health condition like diabetes.

7 Simple Steps to Managing Your Diabetes Through Music

When dealing with diabetes, you are constantly checking your blood sugar, exercising and eating healthy foods to manage stress as well as lower blood sugar. There are certain factors that can help reduce your stress levels, lower anxiety and help fight depression. One of these factors being music! Most people would agree that listening to music has a positive effect on them; however, did you know that music can also affect your diabetes?

1. Be aware and honest with yourself

If you’re struggling with diabetes, being aware of how you feel—and honest about what’s going on—is one of your best tools for managing stress and staying positive. If you notice that your mood is off, don’t try to bury it with food or deny its existence by making excuses; take a minute to address it head-on.

2. Choose music that makes you happy

The music you choose to listen to may depend on your mood, but regardless of how you’re feeling, upbeat, uplifting tunes are a better choice than sad or depressing songs. Listening to such music may help raise your spirits and will likely improve your physical health as well. A study published in Diabetes Care found that type 2 diabetes patients who listened to positive self-talk music experienced a drop in blood sugar levels, while patients who listened to sad music experienced an increase in blood sugar levels.

3. Do what works for you

Stress reduction is essential for people living with diabetes, but different strategies work for different people. Find a method of stress reduction that works for you, and stick to it; if something doesn’t work, try something else until you find what helps reduce your stress level without harming your health. And remember: Other chronic conditions can also cause anxiety—don’t overlook opportunities to reduce anxiety in all aspects of your life, not just diabetes management.

4. Make exercise fun with music

Exercise isn’t just beneficial to your waistline; it’s also great for your mind and body, too. Listening to upbeat music can help elevate your mood while you exercise and motivate you to stick with it until you reach your goal!

5. Set up rewards for achieving goals

One of the most powerful motivators to eating healthy and exercise is to set up reward systems for yourself in order to keep you motivated, excited and energized about your new lifestyle changes. With a diabetes diagnosis, it can be easy to lose sight of where you’re going and why you’re doing all of these things if you don’t already know how to set these kinds of goals for yourself.

6. Breathe deeply before playing an instrument or singing

It’s important to take a few deep breaths before playing or singing in order to get relaxed and focused before you start making music. This also helps lower your blood pressure, which is beneficial if you have diabetes, especially hypertension (high blood pressure). Additionally, just relaxing and listening to yourself play can help reduce stress levels and induce a meditative state of mind. After all, it’s fun to listen to what you sound like when you play! The most important part is to make sure that whatever instrument or voice that you use is not only within your reach but pleasurable for you.

7. Take control and make change happen

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease and your actions each day can make a positive difference on your health for better or worse. It’s up to you to manage your diabetes, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. The tips above can help you relax, become more aware of how music can help fight your blood sugar and find other outlets for stress relief. With these important steps, managing type 2 diabetes becomes a little easier every day—and hopefully, so will living with it!