It means your diet is probably out of balance. Your body needs something to quickly restore the balance - before you drop from fatigue. But sugar and stimulants hammer the body too quickly and push your blood sugar levels way too high.

In addition during the course of the day normal stress incidents arise. At the first sign of them your body releases stress hormones, which again push up blood sugar levels supplying extra energy for a greater ability to cope.

Reaction to stress is perfectly normal and a survival mechanism. It is the adrenalin,the stress hormones, surging through the body that gives one the sense of comfort. From bumping along in third gear first thing in the morning, the rush of chemicals improves the brains' outlook and we kick into a higher gear.

The problems occur when this reaction occurs too often. When this happens several times in the morning we are into permanent overdrive, with all the dangers of a sudden drop off in energy by mid-afternoon.

This is the low feeling, the cloudy brain fog, when low blood sugar levels (hypoglycaemia) drop. Except, at work, we tend to ignore these warning signs because of time pressures and definitely do not think of a balanced diet.

"Ah! Coffee time, I need a pastry to get me through this boring piece of work," we justify to ourselves.

Stimulants and stress both increase the same chemicals to the brain which some people grow to love. But it is the decades of daily consumption of stress, tea, coffee,cold drinks, chocolates and pastry that puts extreme pressure on our balanced blood sugar levels.

Eventually our levels drop to a near permanent low, hypoglycaemia sets in, and we set ourselves up for more serious illnesses. All these stimulants and sugars do us no good but we continue, hoping for the best.

Also, fatigue develops and the body then needs further stimulants. In fact stimulants are committing us to an endless up and down cycle which must be broken if we are not to develop such problems as heart disease, diabetes and others.

**

Peter, 42, lost his job recently. In his new lower paying job he felt far more under stress. The new surroundings, new duties to teach, new people to cope with - and a lower income raised his stress levels.

His craving for more stimulants increased. Also refined nasties crept into his daily routine. He was on the up and down escalator of low blood sugar, with its side effects of the emotions of irritability and mood swings.

His GP tested him positively for low blood sugar - a hypoglycemic heading toward other more serious problems.

Fortunately, such problems can be overcome with a good diet plan and change in outlook. Peter found the solution to his problems. This was to improve his understanding of low blood sugar by reading about the very latest information without having to find it in heavy medical books and journals.

Before the year was up Peter took control of all stimulants and sugar in his diet by finding information at little cost.