Sugar Highs: Do They Really Exist?

On Halloween night and many other sugar-coatedanother kind. As the balance of sugars in the blood
occasions, many of us will be experiencing lots ofgoes off-kilter, the pancreas begins to rush out insulin
candy going into little bags already full of little sugarywhich pushes sugars out of the bloodstream and into
treats. However, once the night is over and thetissues causing an ‘sugar low’ enough to
candy trading negotiations are almost over, the littlecause a kid to start singing John Lee Hooker songs,
business people soon become a little wild. Manyor even ‘The Candyland Blues’. This
believe this spike in energy involves a beloved rush,experience is caused by the lunging sugar levels also
or a ‘sugar high’ per se. But on the contrary,known as hypoglycemia.
as many scientists now believe, there really is not aOnce hypoglycemia kicks in, this is when the next
sugar ‘high’ at all. If a person were to do arise in energy occurs from the release of adrenal
little research on their own, they will find that a sugarhormones that begins to take stored sugars in the
‘high’ may just be caused by the highs andliver out into the blood to restore the, now too low,
lows caused by the body’s regulatory activitiesblood sugars back to a normal level. This could be
as it desperately tries to achieve a balance ofinterpreted by some as a ‘sugar high’. With
glucose in the blood.all of this up and down activity taking place,
The human brain is fueled by the blood sugar,something else is affected. The highs and lows of
glucose. In fact, it takes around 20% of all theblood sugar and adrenal hormones can cause an
carbohydrates we put into our body to run it.imbalance in the body’s neurotransmitters. This
However, the brain is a little picky about how it likesimbalance will cause individuals to feel irritable, fidgety,
to take in all the sugars. It prefers to take in ainattentive, and sleepy and so on. So overall, it is
steady stream rather than spikes and constantobviously not the sugar itself that causes the ups
rushes. The major rushes of sugar into the blood isand downs associated with sugar intake; it is our own
caused by intake of simple carbohydrates oftenadrenal hormones and blood sugars being regulated.
found in candy, soda, corn syrup and processed flourThere was once a myth a long, long time ago when
products. These foods will cause wild ‘ups andindividuals thought sugar was within the same
downs’ as the sugar is instantly transported intocompany of other drugs which we commonly refer
the bloodstream. This rapid rise causes a rush ofto as narcotics.