Livin
#1
Hint it’s not from food. The first time I saw it after getting a cgm almost gave me a heart attack.
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What kind of glucose monitor are you using? It looks like an artifact to me. You should keep a regular finger-prick glucose strip monitor to double-check when you see such an anomaly.
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Bicep
#3
Whatever it is, stop doing it. Spent a few hours and ends up over 200?
Stress…adrenaline…steroids? I’m hopeless, these are just guesses.
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RPS
#4
Guessing the cause is taking a Sauna?
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Second on HIIT, i used to have CGM on and climbing 7 flights of stairs at once to my office, my glucose would spike and subsided minutes later.
Livin
#8
Yes that is the effect of 1.5hr 130 F sauna after a 30 minute peloton. I think it comes from a tremendous surge in counter regulatory hormones. Another paradoxical impact of a proven longevity enhancer. It causes a short term rise in blood sugar when taken out of context but over long term enhances insulin sensitivity of muscles and significantly reduces cvd. Does anyone else see such a surge during sauna? I was thinking of trying metformin 500mg for 3 days around the rapamycin dose to see if I can blunt the peak.
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Livin
#9
It’s a Dexcom G6 sensor that has been calibrated by finger stick. It is usually within 2-4 mg/dl off from the finger stick.
KarlT
#10
A steady climb over 90 minutes does not seem like artifact.
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RPS
#11
I’ve heard other people mention this effect hence guessing the sauna, so you aren’t alone with this effect.
Livin
#12
It seems like my liver is very adept at dumping glucose into blood stream when sensing strong counter regulatory hormone signals.
Hmm, why 1,5h sauna? it seems excessive… I wonder if less time spent would be more beneficial
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Livin
#14
It’s actually just right for my phenotype. I am a tall 6’4’’ person that has no problem gaining weight. As Peter Attia has mentioned that energy balance is 1st 2nd and 3rd order terms in the weight gain/loss equation. I suspect that IR sauna will be shown over time to be better since it allows someone to stay in over an hour. It’s one of the only ways I have found to burn an extra 1000 calories. On some days my Fitbit says I burn 5000 calories which is driven by extended sauna times which are not possible at higher Finnish sauna temperatures.
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I am older so I certainly couldn’t stay in the sauna as long as you do. Because I use the sauna at the gym I go to, I can’t control the temperature. I did some measurements and it varies quite a bit from day to day depending on how many people are in the sauna and how many times the door is opened, etc. Since there is some thought that the sauna mimics exercise, I just stay in the sauna until I have increased my resting HR by 45 beats, then I get out.
I use the dry sauna and steam room on alternate days. The dry sauna raises my heart rate much quicker than the steam room.
Really just two possibilities: ingesting something (other than food) such as toothpaste or sweetened mouthwash or gluconeogenesis, which is glucose produced by the liver from protein. that’s usuall a fasting problem (for me) not at 9 pm.
I find this absolutely amazing. I had never heard of such an effect of sauna.
Was this something you just discovered or had you know about it earlier… and does it happen to most people?
Does the blood glucose level go up as you spend time in the sauna, or is it delayed at all (i.e. does it continue to go up after you’ve left the sauna, or stop going up as soon as you get out?)
Doing a little research - it seems strange as people suggest saunas are good for diabetics, but your experience would suggest otherwise…
Regular thermal therapy may promote insulin sensitivity while boosting expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase–effects comparable to those of exercise training
I’m not too confident on the sources below, but…
Far Infrared Saunas for Lowering Blood Glucose Levels
Far infrared saunas can lower your risk of diabetes by supporting your body’s ability to take up blood glucose, as exercise would, but without the physical struggle of doing exercise. Heating up your body triggers heat shock proteins to get activated.
Heat shock proteins can be triggered by more frequent and long exposure to the elements, such as cold, heat, and the effects of ultraviolet light from the sun.
As a result of activating your heat shock proteins blood glucose levels go down and you’ll lose body fat. Carrying excess body fat is one of the main risk factors for diabetes type two.
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I’m thinking this is likely an artifact of temperature affecting the calibration of the CGM itself. I know I see huge spikes in “glucose” even during a short, very hot shower. You could verify with a quick finger prick after getting out of the sauna, and I’d bet you’d see a minimal change in actual blood glucose. The Freestyle Libre, for example, is no longer FDA approved for accuracy above 114F / 45C.
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Your Liver. It was your liver that caused a spike. In my opinion I know because the same thing happened to me there not eating for nine hours during the day. I check my blood glucose in an hour. It was around 200 which was very high and unusual for me.
I got a massive spike on my dexcom g6. Do not get the same from the Libre. So went back to that even though you have to scan it. Have not tried the G7 yet.
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