Why Does Sugar Make Me Tired? When Comfort Becomes Exhaustion
- Britt Ritchie
- Oct 30
- 6 min read
You start the day strong. Coffee, emails, maybe a smoothie if you’re lucky.
By mid-afternoon, the energy dips. You reach for something sweet—for a little energy boost.
Five minutes later, you feel better.
Thirty minutes later, you’re foggy, sluggish, and fighting to stay awake.
If you’ve ever wondered, “Why does sugar make me tired?”—you’re not imagining it.
The crash is real, and it’s more than blood sugar. It’s brain chemistry, hormones, and your body’s way of saying “something’s off.”
Key Points
Sugar triggers a dopamine and blood sugar spike—then a crash that leaves you drained.
The fatigue after sweets is a sign of imbalance in insulin, cortisol, and neurotransmitters.
Repeated highs and lows can lead to sugar addiction, burnout, and mood instability.
Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) can help identify if fatigue stems from diet, depression, or other causes.
Balance—not restriction—is the key to steady energy and focus.
Why Does Sugar Feel So Comforting at First?
For high-performing women, sweets often show up as emotional first aid.
When you’re stressed, overwhelmed, or depleted, sugar offers a quick reward.
That’s because sugar directly activates your brain’s reward circuitry, triggering dopamine, the same neurotransmitter tied to motivation and pleasure.
The result?
Temporary calm, a burst of energy, and a false sense of control.
But dopamine highs are fleeting. Once the chemical spike fades, your body—and your mood—come crashing down. You’re left more tired, less focused, and often craving the next hit.
This is how comfort becomes exhaustion: a quick fix for emotional depletion that ultimately deepens it.
What Happens in Your Body When You Eat Sugar?
When you eat something sweet, your blood sugar rises quickly. In response, your pancreas releases insulin, a hormone that acts like a key—unlocking your cells so glucose can move from your bloodstream into your muscles and organs to be used for energy.
If you eat sugar on an empty stomach (or foods that digest very quickly), your blood sugar rises fast and then drops just as quickly. That sudden crash is what causes:
Fatigue (your brain is temporarily low on fuel)
Irritability (your nervous system is stressed)
Brain fog (your body is prioritizing blood sugar recovery, not mental clarity)
To correct that rapid drop, your body releases cortisol and adrenaline—stress hormones that push glucose back into your bloodstream. This is why you may feel shaky, anxious, “wired,” or craving more sugar shortly after eating something sweet.
If this spike-and-crash cycle happens often (think: afternoon treats, skipping meals, coffee for breakfast, “just one more bite”), your cells can become less responsive to insulin. This is called insulin resistance.
When your cells stop responding to insulin the way they should, your body has to release more and more insulin to achieve the same effect.
Higher insulin levels mean:
Your body stores more fat (especially around the midsection)
Your hunger and cravings become stronger and harder to regulate
Your energy crashes more often
Your mood becomes more unstable or anxious
Inflammation increases in the brain and body
Over the long term, insulin resistance can contribute to:
Chronic fatigue
Depression and mood instability
Difficulty focusing (yes, it affects ADHD symptoms)
Pre-diabetes or diabetes
Sugar itself isn't the enemy—the repeated rollercoaster is. Supporting blood sugar stability is one of the most powerful ways to improve mood, focus, and energy… and it’s often the missing piece when someone feels “tired but wired” all the time.
Is Sugar Addiction Real?
Yes—and it’s surprisingly common among high-functioning adults who “should know better.”
Research shows that sugar stimulates the same pleasure centers in the brain as certain addictive substances, leading to cravings, tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms.
If you’ve ever sworn off sweets only to find yourself searching for “something” in the pantry a few days later, you’ve experienced this firsthand.
You might be dealing with sugar addiction if you:
Feel moody, irritable, or fatigued when you cut back.
Use sweets for comfort, stress relief, or emotional escape.
Hide, rationalize, or “negotiate” your sugar use (“just one cookie”).
Experience headaches, fatigue, or anxiety when you try to stop.
Why Does Sugar Make Me Tired Over Time? Understanding the Energy Crash
The short version: you’re chasing energy from a system that’s already running on empty.
Each time your blood sugar spikes and drops, your body experiences it as stress. Cortisol rises, insulin fluctuates, and your mitochondria—the part of your cells that makes energy—start to falter.
Over time, you don’t just feel tired after sweets—you feel tired all the time.
The highs and lows flatten your natural energy curve and dull your brain’s dopamine response.
That’s why women with ADHD, anxiety, or burnout are particularly prone to sugar fatigue: their brains are already craving dopamine and stability. Sugar gives a short burst of both—then steals it right back.
Can Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) Help Identify the Cause of Fatigue?
Absolutely. At Mind Alchemy Mental Health in Denver, I often use continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) as part of a holistic evaluation for fatigue, burnout, or mood instability.
A CGM tracks your blood sugar in real time, offering a 24/7 view of how your body responds to food, stress, sleep, and movement.
It helps us answer questions like:
Is your afternoon fatigue caused by a blood-sugar crash—or emotional depletion?
Do mood dips or irritability follow specific meals or snacks?
Are your “sugar cravings” actually linked to low dopamine or poor sleep?
Could your symptoms be tied to insulin resistance, nutrient deficiency, or depression?
By pairing CGM data with functional lab testing and mental-health assessment, we can see whether your fatigue stems from diet, metabolism, mood regulation—or all three.
This data-driven approach turns guesswork into insight. Instead of guessing why you’re tired, we see the pattern, identify the root cause, and tailor your treatment accordingly.
What Are Your Cravings Trying to Tell You About Your Mental Health?
Cravings are your body’s language of imbalance. They’re not about willpower—they’re about unmet needs.
When clients tell me, “I just can’t stop eating sweets,” what they’re often describing is a biochemical SOS. Their bodies are asking for stability, nutrients, or rest.
Common root causes include:
Low magnesium, zinc, or B vitamins
Hormonal fluctuations
Poor sleep
Chronic stress
Emotional burnout
In other words, sugar is often the symptom—not the source—of your fatigue.
How Can You Break the Sugar-Fatigue Cycle Without Cutting Joy?
You don’t need to cut out every dessert. You just need to stop letting sugar run the show.
Here’s how I help clients find balance that supports both joy and steady energy.
1. Start With Protein and Fiber
Eat balanced meals—especially breakfast—with protein, fiber, and healthy fats. This keeps blood sugar stable and prevents mid-afternoon crashes.
2. Identify Triggers With Curiosity, Not Judgment
Notice when cravings hit. Are you hungry—or overwhelmed? Exhausted—or emotionally numb? Write it down. Patterns will emerge.
3. Try a CGM for Clarity
Tracking your glucose in real time reveals how your body uniquely responds to foods and stress. It’s often an aha moment—connecting energy dips to what (and when) you eat.
4. Support Dopamine Naturally
Replace sugar-driven dopamine hits with healthy sources: exercise, laughter, music, sunlight or creative hobbies.
5. Use Root-Cause Testing
Functional lab panels can reveal nutrient depletion, thyroid issues, or cortisol imbalances that fuel both cravings and fatigue.
6. Give Yourself Permission to Rest
Fatigue often means your nervous system is begging for recovery. Sugar can’t replace sleep, boundaries, or genuine downtime.
Why Understanding “Why Does Sugar Make Me Tired” Helps You Protect Your Mental Health
In holistic psychiatry, I see sugar fatigue as a sign of dysregulation—a body and brain no longer in sync.
When glucose, dopamine, and cortisol are unstable, you don’t just feel tired—you feel anxious, unfocused, and emotionally flat.
Over time, that instability can mimic or worsen depression, ADHD, anxiety, or burnout.
The solution isn’t restriction; it’s restoration—getting your biochemistry back into rhythm so you can feel like yourself again.
How I Can Help
At Mind Alchemy Mental Health in Denver, Colorado, I specialize in helping ambitious women decode fatigue, mood changes, and burnout through an integrative, root-cause lens.
As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, I combine functional lab testing, continuous glucose monitoring, and holistic psychiatry to uncover the biological and emotional roots of exhaustion.
Together, we’ll design a plan that supports real energy—whether that means stabilizing blood sugar, balancing hormones, replenishing nutrients, or healing from burnout.
Explore more:
The story behind my holistic approach to mental health
My approach & services for holistic women’s wellness
Visit my media hub for podcasts, Youtube videos and more related to holistic mental health treatment
When do your sweet cravings hit hardest?
Right after lunch
The 3 PM energy slump
After everyone goes to bed
Constantly. Is this a trick question?
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