The Effects of Mental Stress on Non-insulin-dependent Diabetes: Determining the Relationship Between Catecholamine and Adrenergic Signals from Stress, Anxiety, and Depression on the Physiological Changes in the Pancreatic Hormone Secretion

Non-insulin-dependent diabetes or type II diabetes is prevalent around the world. A high-fat diet and chronic inactivity are often responsible for this chronic ailment. However, it is suspected that a high level of stress can also exacerbate diabetes. High anxiety can result in the release of sympathetic hormones that can elevate both cortisol and glucose levels, decrease insulin release, or affect the sensitivity and resistant of the insulin hormone. We have analyzed three research articles to see how stress and anxiety can affect non-insulin-dependent diabetes. In the first article, we selected participants with type II diabetes and injected them with saline or norepinephrine. The results indicated that participants with norepinephrine had experienced a decrease in glucose disposal and reduction in insulin secretion rate. Our second article utilizes African-American adults with type II diabetes. We provide them with a survey to determine how stress, anxiety, and depression can affect adherence to lifestyle modifications such as exercise and eating a proper diet. We find that subjects with higher stress levels tend to have lower compliance with their lifestyle regimes. Our third article focuses on female participants and divides them into two categories which are high chronic stress (HCS) and low chronic stress (LCS). We use an MRI to observe their brain activity while they stare at a picture of high-caloric type food. Our results indicate that there are different responses in various brain structure activities between subjects with HCS and LCS group. With these analyses, it can improve on the way healthcare providers can consult with their patients who have exacerbated type II diabetes despite proper medication and lifestyle modification.