It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about mental, emotional or physical stress, our body responds the same way by releasing hormones. These hormones are called epinephrine or adrenaline and cortisol. When we are dealing with an isolated stressful event, we can have a very brief rise in blood sugar levels which is considered normal. When we are under long-term or chronic stressful situations, this release of our stress hormones can cause our blood sugar levels in the bloodstream to rise which leads to insulin resistance in the body. When epinephrine is released it causes the body to increase the demand for glucose. The body stores glucose in the form of glycogen. Epinephrine causes glycogen stores to be broken down into glucose and released into the bloodstream. This increases blood glucose levels in the blood.