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Low Blood Sugar Can Cause Depression
Written by Alison David Bird
May 2010

Primitive man really had only one thing to worry about; the saber tooth tiger. Only two responses were available to him whenever threatened; to stay and fight, or run like hell- take flight!

This innate ‘fight/flight’ mechanism has evolved as man has over time.  Saber tooth tigers may not be stalking Main Street today, but there are other things that trigger our fight/flight response, it’s just that we experience that response now as: anxiety and depression.

Things that worry us today include: mortgages, job security, health, marriage, teenagers!  We become anxious, and when our anxiety isn’t relieved we are overwhelmed and our mind escapes (takes flight) into depression.

Depression will always follow prolonged anxiety.  But did you know that feelings of anxiety can be caused by something as simple as low blood sugar?

As much as 50% of the population suffers from blood sugar problems. You may say: “That’s not me, I don’t eat sugar!”  You don’t have to.

You may feel your anxiety, or feelings of hopelessness, frustration and futility or that ‘black cloud’ descend on you at particular times of the day, such as when you first wake- up, or between 3pm and 5pm in the afternoon.

Breakfast is intended to do just that, break-the-fast.  If you miss breakfast you risk falling sugar levels in the brain, which sends a message to the pancreas to produce insulin, driving sugar levels down even further. The chemical response to that creates feelings of anxiety. The same is true in mid-to-late afternoon. Just look at the coffee station around 4pm.

Wherever you are, or whatever you are doing when this chemically created anxiety kicks in – let’s say; at work – will become associated with this physiological reaction.  When that activity is repeated you will experience what is called anticipatory anxiety.  The mind begins to associate work with those anxious feelings and anticipates that you will experience them again.

Prolonged anxiety (fight) leaves the mind only one option, to escape (flight) into depression.

Confirmation Therapy, under hypnosis, can help break this cycle of behavior, desensitize the mind to anticipatory anxiety and combined with a minor tweak in eating habits, life is good again!