Since as early as 1935, scientists have been asking “Can stress cause diabetes type 2?”. Even as long as 400 years ago, a English doctor named Thomas Willis made note that diabetes appeared often among people that had experienced important or significant life stresses, sadness, or long-term sorrow. In 1935, the question about can stress cause diabetes was attempted to be answered in a group of 25patients. A doctor named Menninger proposed the existence of a diabetic personality. But the test was biased in participant selection and it wasn’t deemed conclusive by his peers. But can stress cause diabetes if it is other forms of emotional stress, more defined and classified? Some more recent research has attempted to answer this question.
Can Stress Cause Diabetes If The Stress Is Connected To Depression?
Two recent studies have looked at depression and its associated stress and the relationship to type 2 diabetes. Evidence from nine prospective epidemiological studies by Knol et al. in 2006 were the first studies to show that depression and related stress increased the risk for developing type 2 diabetes by 37% That is not insignificant. In 2008, 13 more studies by Mezuk et al. showed that not only can stress cause diabetes, but that the associated risk was 60% higher with stressed and depressed participants.
Can Stress Cause Diabetes If It Is Related To Traumatic Life Changing Events?
In 2000, Mooy et al. used a cross section of data from The Hoorn Study (which included over 2200 participants) to show that chronic stress brought on by traumatic events can indeed be a diabetic risk factor. They discovered that people that had a significant life event that brought on chronic stress had a 1.6 times increased risk of getting type 2 diabetes compared to the same number of people who didn’t experience such an event.
Can Stress Cause Diabetes If It Is General Emotional Stress or Anger/Hostility?
Several studies have addressed this question and tried to determine if general emotional stress in any way contributed to type 2 diabetes. The findings of this test were interesting in that they also found a gender relationship as well. They determined that generally stressed men, but not women, were more than 2 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
The factors that still need to be considered is that stressed men were also less likely to quit smoking, quit drinking and modify their diets. Since these are known factors, they cannot be ignored and further study is needed before conclusions are finalized.
