Blood Glucose Levels Are Measured In

What Is The Normal Blood Sugar Level For Teens

Teenagers are recommended to have a blood sugar range between 70-150 mg/dL. It’s not easy for a teenager to maintain a tight range, therefore it’s important to aim for these numbers to give them a bit more flexibility.

• Fasting: 70-150 mg/dL
• Preprandial : 90-130 mg/dL
• Postprandial : Less than 140 mg/dL
• Bedtime: 90-150 mg/dL

What Causes Your Blood Glucose To Go Up

Blood glucose refers to the amount of glucose that is circulating through your blood, ideally headed to cells for energy. Insulin is the hormone that allows glucose into our cells, but those with type 1 diabetes don’t produce insulin and those with type 2 diabetes are resistant to insulin and don’t use it effectively.

Things that can make our blood glucose levels go up include food, stress and illness. Things can can cause our blood glucose levels to go down can include long periods of time without eating, taking too much medication and physical activity.

Each person, regardless of whether they have diabetes, has their own healthy blood sugar target range where their body functions as its best. If you have diabetes, it’s important to identify what your range is, and how it compares to a range that would make you feel your best. Talk with your healthcare team about your current range as well as what the healthiest range for you would be.

How To Do A Finger

Your healthcare team will show you how to do it the first time, but these are the key steps:

• Wash your hands with soap and warm water. Dont use wet wipes as the glycerine in them can affect the test result. Make sure your hands are warm so its easier to get blood and wont hurt as much.
• Take a test strip and slot it into the meter to turn it on. Some meters will have tests strips built in.
• Remove the cap from your finger prick device and put in a new lancet. Then put the cap back on and set the device by pulling or clicking the plunger.
• Choose which finger to prick but avoid your thumb or index finger . And dont prick the middle, or too close to a nail. Place the device against the side of your finger and press the plunger. Use a different finger each time and a different area.
• Take your meter with the test strip and hold it against the drop of blood. Itll tell you if the test strip is filled, usually by beeping.
• Before you look at your reading, check your finger. Use a tissue to stop bleeding, then use it to take out the lancet and throw it away in your sharps bin.
• You can use the same tissue to take out the test strip and throw that away too. Taking out the strip will usually turn the meter off.

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How Much Does Orange Juice Increase Blood Sugar

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Checking Your Blood Glucose Levels Will Help You To:

• Develop confidence in looking after your diabetes.
• Better understand the relationship between your blood glucose levels and the exercise you do, the food you eat and other lifestyle influences such as travel, stress and illness.
• Know how your lifestyle choices and medication, if used, are making a difference.
• Find out immediately if your blood glucose levels are too high or too low , helping you to make important decisions such as eating before exercise, treating a hypo or seeking medical advice if sick.
• Know when to seek the advice of your diabetes health team about adjusting your insulin, tablets, meal or snack planning when blood glucose goals are not being met.

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Other Tips For Checking:

• With some meters, you can also use your forearm, thigh, or fleshy part of your hand.
• There are spring-loaded lancing devices that make sticking yourself less painful.
• If you use your fingertip, stick the side of your fingertip by your fingernail to avoid having sore spots on the frequently used part of your finger.

Fasting & Elevated Blood Glucose

Type 2 diabetes for 20+ years. Started keto with intermittent fasting in January 2019. Why would my fasting blood glucose numbers during my 18-24-hour fast be elevated, then come down to normal ranges after eating?

Mindy

Fasting can definitely raise blood glucose. This is due to the effect of insulin falling and the rising counter-regulatory hormones including increased sympathetic tone, noradrenaline, cortisol and growth hormone, in addition to glucagon. These all have the effect of pushing glucose from liver storage into the blood. This is normal. If you are not eating, you want to use some stored glucose. The question is this if you are not eating, and your blood glucose went up, where did that glucose come from? It can only have come from your own body . So, its a natural phenomenon, and the fasting now allows your body to use some of the glucose for energy.

Dr. Jason Fung

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Make A Note Of Your Readings

It may sound obvious, but you must record your readings. Note them down in a diary, a notebook or in your phone calendar. Some meters have software that lets you do this. You could try a diabetes app too.

You and your healthcare team can then look back over your results to see if you need to adjust your treatment.

Measuring Blood Sugar Levels In A Laboratory

Blood sugar levels can be measured a lot more accurately by taking a blood sample from a vein and having it tested in a laboratory. Blood sugar is sometimes measured as part of a routine blood test in hospital or at the doctors. A special kind of test called a glucose tolerance test involves taking blood samples to see how the body deals with larger amounts of sugar. You have to drink a liquid with a lot of sugar in it before the blood samples are taken.

Most people with diabetes have the HbA1c levels in their blood measured regularly. HbA1c is a measure of how high your blood sugar levels have been on average over the last two to three months This indicates how well controlled your blood sugar is and whether your diabetes treatment might need to be adjusted.

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How Do I Track Blood Sugar Levels

In most cases, if gestational diabetes is suspected, a glucose meter will be part of your diabetes care plan. These can measure your blood sugar levels. Glucose meters measure blood sugar from small drops of blood drawn from finger pricks.

A diabetes educator or member of your OBGYNs health care team will review the procedures of testing blood sugar during your prenatal visits. This includes how to track health information like blood sugar levels and weight.

Keeping logs of your daily glucose levels can show your health care provider how your blood sugar levels change through your day and through various activities like exercising or working at your desk all day. .

How Do You Manage Blood Sugar

It’s not easy to manage your blood sugar, but it’s important to do so if you have diabetes. There are many things you can do to keep your blood sugar levels in the healthy range.

The first step is to understand what causes your blood sugar levels to go up and down. This will help you make choices that keep your blood sugar levels within your target range.

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What Are The Target Ranges

Blood glucose targets are individualized based on:

• duration of diabetes
• conditions a person may have
• cardiovascular disease or diabetes complications
• hypoglycemia unawareness
• individual patient considerations

The American Diabetes Association suggests the following targets for most nonpregnant adults with diabetes. A1C targets differ based on age and health. Also, more or less stringent glycemic goals may be appropriate for each individual.

• A1C: Less than 7%A1C may also be reported as eAG: Less than 154 mg/dL
• Before a meal : 80130 mg/dL
• 1-2 hours after beginning of the meal *: Less than 180 mg/dL

Why Do We Need To Measure Our Blood Sugar Levels

If your blood sugar levels are too high from your target range, this could result in Type 2 diabetes diagnosis.

As blood sugar levels increase, the pancreas will eventually not be able to produce enough insulin to meet the bodys demands, so the body becomes resistant to insulin, which will then lead to Type 2 Diabetes.

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Balancing Your Blood Sugar: What’s Healthy How To Measure And More

Your blood sugar is affected by a range of factors. Here’s how to tell if yours is healthy.

Caroline Roberts

Digital Editorial Intern

Caroline Roberts writes articles and notifications for CNET. She studies English at Cal Poly, and loves philosophy, Karl the Fog and a strong cup of black coffee.

High blood sugar levels are a problem, even if you don’t have a family history of diabetes. Blood sugar that’s consistently higher than ideal can coexist with Type 2 diabetes and cause serious health conditions like kidney disease, nerve problems or stroke.

While that’s no reason to panic, when it comes to our health, it’s important to know exactly what’s going on inside of our bodies. Let’s get into what blood sugar means, how to measure it and everything else you need to know.

What Should I Do If My Glucose Levels Are Too High

You should establish a treatment plan with your doctor. You may be able to manage your glucose levels through diet and other lifestyle changes, like weight loss. Exercise can also help lower your glucose levels.

Medications may be added to your treatment if needed. Most people with type 2 diabetes will start on metformin as their first medication. There are many different types of diabetes medications that act in different ways.

Injecting insulin is one way to quickly reduce your glucose levels. Your doctor may prescribe insulin if you need help managing your glucose levels. Your doctor will determine your dosage and go over with you how to inject it, and when.

Let your doctor know if your glucose levels are consistently high. This could mean you need to take regular medication or make other changes to your diabetes treatment plan. Working with your doctor to get your glucose levels under control is important. Consistently high levels can lead to serious complications, like diabetic neuropathy or kidney failure.

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How To Test Your Blood Sugar At Home

Follow these steps:

Random Blood Sugar Test

This measures your blood sugar at the time youre tested. You can take this test at any time and dont need to fast first. A blood sugar level of 200 mg/dL or higher indicates you have diabetes.

*Results for gestational diabetes can differ. Ask your health care provider what your results mean if youre being tested for gestational diabetes.Source: American Diabetes Association

If your doctor thinks you have type 1 diabetes, your blood may also tested for autoantibodies that are often present in type 1 diabetes but not in type 2 diabetes. You may have your urine tested for ketones , which also indicate type 1 diabetes instead of type 2 diabetes.

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What Are Normal And High Morning Blood Sugar Levels

The term morning blood sugar describes your blood sugar level after you wake up but before you eat anything. This fasting measurement shows how well your body controlled your blood sugar overnight.

When you eat, it leads to an increase in blood sugar. Insulin lets the sugar leave your blood and enter the cells in your body, converting it into useful energy.

If you dont regularly monitor your blood sugar to manage a condition like diabetes, you may not be aware of your fasting blood sugar level. But you might want to understand what your levels mean if you get a result back from your regular physicians checkup.

Consistently high blood sugar can cause tiredness and mental fogginess and can lead to serious health problems if untreated, but most mild cases cause no noticeable symptoms at all.

Most people learn they have high blood sugar after seeing a doctor about something else.

Hormones Raise Blood Glucose

Around 3-4 am each morning, there are a collection of counter regulatory hormones that are signaled in the body: glucagon, epinephrine, growth hormone, and cortisol, which result in a rise in blood sugar.

This change in hormones occurs to stimulate our awakening, to get us moving and to give us energy. This is referred to as the Dawn Phenomenon or Dawn Effect.

This is in fact a normal response. This occurs in everyone, diabetic or not.

However, if you have diabetes or prediabetes there is one additional factor that impacts both the overnight glucose production and the rise in glucose with cortisol, and that is decreased insulin production or decreased utilization of insulin.

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Who Should Check

Talk to your doctor about whether you should be checking your blood glucose. People who may benefit from checking blood glucose regularly include those:

• taking insulin.
• having a hard time reaching your blood glucose targets.
• having low blood glucose levels.
• having low blood glucose levels without the usual warning signs.
• have ketones from high blood glucose levels.

What About A1c

AIC is a measure of your average blood sugar over the past 3 months. To have your A1C measured, youll need a blood draw.

When sugar enters your bloodstream, it binds to a protein called hemoglobin. People who have high blood sugar have a higher percentage of the hemoglobin protein coated with sugar. Your A1C result will give you an indication of what percentage of your hemoglobin is bound to sugar.

In the chart below you can see whether your A1C result falls into a normal range or whether it could be a sign of prediabetes or diabetes.

blood sugar is one of the most important elements of diabetes management.

Careful monitoring of your blood sugar and knowing what may cause it to rise or fall can help you and a health team develop a diabetes care plan and set treatment goals.

Additionally, measuring your blood sugar can help you:

• monitor how medications are impacting your blood sugar levels
• determine how different meals and food choices impact your blood sugar
• determine whether exercise or other lifestyle changes are impacting your blood sugar levels
• keep track of your overall progress

Even if you dont have diabetes, its a good idea to get your blood sugar checked periodically. A doctor might order a blood sugar test as part of an annual physical. If you have any risk factors for diabetes, you may need to get your blood sugar checked more often.

• eye complications

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How Do I Check

People with diabetes check their blood glucose levels by poking their fingertips and using a blood glucose meter or a continuous glucose monitor to measure the blood glucose level at that moment. Read on to find out how to use a blood glucose meter. To find out more about CGMs, start by talking to your doctor.

What Is Blood Glucose

Blood glucose is the main sugar content in your blood. It comes from the food you eat, and it’s your body’s main source of energy. Blood glucose levels are a measure of how much sugar is in your blood. Blood sugar levels can fluctuate during the day and night because of various reasons. What we eat, how active we are, and even stress can all affect our blood sugar levels.

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