Treatment
As it is a short term ailment, a sugar crash does not usually require medical intervention in most people. The most important factors to consider when addressing this issue are the composition and timing of foods. Acute low blood sugar symptoms are best treated by consuming small amounts of sweet foods, so as to regain balance in the body’s carbohydrate metabolism. Suggestions include sugary foods that are quickly digested, such as:
- Dried fruit
- Soft drinks
- Juice
- Sugar as candies, tablets or cubes
Tips to prevent sugar crashes include:
- Avoiding eating meals or snack composed entirely of carbohydrates. Simultaneously ingest fats and proteins, which have slower rates of absorption.
- Consistently choose longer lasting, complex carbohydrates to prevent rapid blood-sugar dips in the event that one does consume a disproportionately large amount of carbohydrates with a meal
- Monitoring any effects medication may have on symptoms
- Limiting sugar intake on an empty stomach unless the sugar is ingested in order to facilitate the uptake of proteins or supplements
- Regularly practice physical exercise.
One possible method to help prevent lethargy associated with high-carbohydrate meals is to impede the rate of absorption of sugars into the body by slowing the digestion process. This may be accomplished by drinking a cold liquid such as water or cold tea with, or shortly after, high-carbohydrate meals. This may have the effect of reducing the severity of the insulin spike, and reducing the intensity of lethargy. Drinking warm or hot liquids with high-carbohydrate meals can increase the metabolic rate of digestion, increasing the insulin spike and severity of lethargy. This can also apply to warm, weakly caffeinated drinks such as weak coffee or tea, especially if taken with milk.
Read more about this topic: Sugar Crash
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