How Much Should Your Blood Sugar Be In The Morning

Translating Your A1c To A Blood Sugar Level

Using this easy calculator from the ADA, you can translate your most recent A1C result to an eAG or estimate average glucose level.

You can also use this translation when working to improve your A1c and achieving closer to normal blood sugar levels. If you know an A1c of 6.5 is an average blood sugar level of 126 mg/dL or a range of 100 to 152 mg/dL, then you can look at your current blood sugar results on your CGM and meter and pinpoint which time of day youre frequently higher than this range.12% = 298 mg/dL or range of 240 347 11% = 269 mg/dL or range of 217 31410% = 240 mg/dL or range of 193 2829% = 212 mg/dL or range of 170 2498% = 183 mg/dL or range of 147 2177% = 154 mg/dL or range of 123 1856% = 126 mg/dL or range of 100 1525% = 97 mg/dL or range of 76 120

Normal blood sugar levels in a person without diabetes can result in an A1c as low as 4.6 or 4.7 percent and as high as 5.6 percent.

Just a decade or two ago, it was rare for a person with type 1 diabetes to achieve an A1c result below 6 percent. Thanks to new and improved insulin and better technology like continuous glucose monitors and smarter insulin pumps, more people with diabetes are able to safely achieve A1c levels in the higher 5 percent range.

What Else Can I Do To Help Manage My Blood Sugar Levels

Eating a healthy diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, and getting regular physical activity can all help. Other tips include:

• Keep track of your blood sugar levels to see what makes them go up or down.
• Eat at regular times, and dont skip meals.
• Choose foods lower in calories, saturated fat, trans fat, sugar, and salt.
• Track your food, drink, and physical activity.
• Drink water instead of juice or soda.
• Limit alcoholic drinks.
• For a sweet treat, choose fruit.
• Control your food portions .

What Are Normal Blood Glucose Levels For Non

We measure blood glucose, aka blood sugar, in milligrams per deciliter . As with body temperature, each individualâs regular blood glucose range varies. The numbers below are only a guide for normal blood sugar levels for non-diabetic individuals, and should not replace any specific recommendations from your doctor.

• Blood sugar is often lowest before breakfast and in the lead-up to meals. The before-meal level generally ranges from 72 to 100 mg/dL, or 4.0 to 5.6 mmol/L.
• Blood sugars are often highest in the hours following meals, with an after-meal level that can go up to 140 mg/dL or 7.8 mmol/L up to 2 hours after a meal.

If your blood sugar is outside of either of these two ranges, you may need to analyze your diet and other factors like age, health conditions, stress, illness, sleep, physical activity, and menstrual cycle for women.

Does a spike over a certain level mean that you are diabetic? Generally, noâthere are a number of ways to determine if you may be diabetic, but occasional high spikes do not mean that you are diabetic. In fact, this is a normal response to a lot of the foods we can eat on a daily basis. Just because our bodies are equipped to handle high glucose spikes doesnât make it healthy.

This research suggests that exposure to moderately elevated glucose ranges remains underappreciated when people are categorized by isolated glucose measurements.

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What Is The Normal Blood Sugar Level For Kids

Blood sugar levels can vary based on age. Children younger than 6 have a different normal blood sugar level range than adults.

The American Diabetes Association provides the following ranges as a guide:

• Fasting: 80-180 mg/dL
• Preprandial : 100-180 mg/dL
• Postprandial : Less than 180 mg/dL
• Bedtime: 110-200 mg/dL

What Are The Recommended Targets For Blood Glucose Levels

Many people with diabetes aim to keep their blood glucose at these normal levels:

• Before a meal: 80 to 130 mg/dL
• About 2 hours after a meal starts: less than 180 mg/dL

Talk with your health care team about the best target range for you. Be sure to tell your health care professional if your glucose levels often go above or below your target range.

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Levels After Youve Eaten

Many foods have types of carbohydrates called starches and sugars. When you eat foods with these types of carbohydrates, your body breaks them down into glucose, which is a type of simple sugar, and releases the glucose into your bloodstream. Aside from glucose produced by your liver, food is the main source of plasma glucose.

Two hours after eating, your blood sugar levels rise. They rise more when you eat more carbohydrates, when you do not eat fiber, fat, or protein with your carbs, and when you eat certain types of carbohydrates, such as refined sugars and starches.

These are target values from The Joslin Diabetes Center, which include levels for people with diabetes:

It’s Easy To Get The Care You Need

See a Premier Physician Network provider near you.

Whether you know it or not, every morning you experience a natural biological event called the dawn phenomenon. For most, this passes without health risk. Thats not the case, however, if you have diabetes.

But to ease your concerns, if you do have diabetes, Miguel Parilo, MD, of Bull Family Diabetes Center, offers advice on ways to control the effects of dawn phenomenon on your health.

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This Isnt Dawn Phenomenon

Many people would blame this rise in blood sugar on dawn phenomenon , which has a similar endpoint, but a different mechanism. Dawn phenomenon is the result of hormones releasing in the body in the early morning predominantly growth hormone, cortisol, epinephrine, and glucagon which in turn increase insulin resistance. The current basal insulin from the pump or long-acting injections is no longer enough, and blood sugars rise.

That hormonal surge happens around 2 am-6 am, with most of it occurring in the middle of the night. Lets say you woke up at 7:30 am and arent in the DP zone. Its not DP. Then what?

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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Is Blood Sugar Of 135 High

A blood sugar level of 135 is not considered high. However, it is still important to take steps to lower your blood sugar levels if they are above your target range. You can do this by making changes to your diet and exercise routine. You should also talk to your doctor about ways to lower your blood sugar levels.

Before And After Meals And Snacks

If you eat first thing in the morning, your first blood sugar check of the day can also count as your pre-meal check, but if you dont, youll need to check again before breakfast.

This can inform you as to how much insulin youll need for your meal . If youre running a little high, youll need to bolus extra, but if your blood sugar is on the lower end, you can take a little less insulin for any carbohydrates eaten.

Checking before every meal and snack can help curb postprandial glucose excursions, otherwise known as the stubborn high blood sugars you sometimes can experience after eating a meal and not adequately bolusing for said meal.

Ideally, you should also be checking 2 hours after all meals as well, to determine if your meal bolus was adequate, if you took too much insulin, or if you need to adjust and take more insulin.

Two hours is the recommended time frame, because by then most carbohydrates have been absorbed into the body and most fast-acting insulin has already peaked.

When checking before snacks , make sure youre calculating any active insulin on board so you dont overtreat a high and end up going low.

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People With Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes can occur during pregnancy. Often, it is a temporary condition, but it can lead to pregnancy complications.

The American Diabetes Association recommends that people with a diagnosis of gestational diabetes aim for blood sugar levels similar to those for people without diabetes, although individual targets may vary.

The ADA offers the following as a guideline:

• kidneys
• blood vessels

A wide range of complications can also result, such as slow wound healing and frequent infections. Other possible complications include:

Normal Ranges For Blood Sugar

People who dont have diabetes keep their blood sugars between 60 100 mg/dl overnight and before meals, and less than 140 mg/dl after meals. Although the ultimate goal of diabetes management is to return the blood sugar to the natural or non-diabetic level, this may be difficult without excessive low blood sugars or hypoglycemia.

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Are There Different Recommendations For Blood Sugar Levels In Other Countries

The recommended blood sugar level ranges in countries around the world are very similar. However, there are two different units of measurement that are used when referring to blood sugars, depending on where you live: millimoles per litre and milligrams per decilitre .

The mmol/L measurement is used here in Canada, as well as England, Australia and China, while mg/dL is used in such countries as the United States, France, Japan, Israel and India.

To convert mmol/L to mg/dl, simply multiply by 18. For example, a blood sugar level of 5.0 mmol/L would mean a level of 90 mg/dL .

Here are blood sugar recommendations from some countries other than Canada:

Track Your Glucose Levels On The Freestyle Libre 2 App And Unlock Insights About What Impacts Your Glucose Levels3

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What Is Blood Sugar

Blood sugar, or glucose, is the sugar found in your blood that comes mainly from the food you eat. Whenever you eat something, your digestive system breaks it down into smaller components, and one of the major components is glucose.

Glucose is our bodies preferred energy source. Its a necessary ingredient for maintaining the optimal function of your organs, muscles, and nervous system.

If you just ate a meal high in carbohydrates, starch, and/or sugar, your blood sugar will rise high over a normal fasting level. If you just had a meal of healthy fats and proteins, your blood sugar will not rise as high.

Blood sugar after meals that is continuously outside of the normal range can lead to major blood vessel and body tissue damage.

This damage creates toxic compounds called advanced glycation end products .

AGEs are proteins or lipids that are tagged with glucose molecules as a result of continuous exposure to high sugar levels. AGEs accelerate the aging process by depleting your bodys antioxidant stores.

They also wreak havoc in the body by damaging DNA and lead to the development, or worsening, of many diseases including diabetes, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and Alzheimers disease.

Fortunately, its very simple to measure the direct effect on your blood sugar of any kind of food, whether its a bowl of greens or a big juicy burger.

Can Drinking A Lot Of Water Lower Your Blood Sugar Levels

Although feeling very thirsty is a symptom of a hyper, drinking a lot of water will not bring your blood sugar levels down. It will only help to reduce your risk of dehydration.

Its important that you take your diabetes medication to bring your blood sugar levels down. If you have consistently high blood sugar levels, you will need to follow the advice below and speak to your diabetes healthcare team.

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Some Ways To Help You Prevent High Morning Readings

What should my blood sugar be when I wake up? It depends if you already have diabetes or not. However, you should also know what you could do to keep your blood sugar levels from rising in the morning. Here are few suggestions:

1. Manage Your Body Weight

If you are overweight, consider losing weight to make it easy to manage your blood sugar levels. It really helps when you have been recently diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. Weight loss usually helps regulate hormones and increase insulin sensitivity to lower your blood sugar levels. To lose weight, pay attention to your diet first avoid processed foods, eat veggies and fruits, and cut the intake of less-healthy foods. Cranking up your physical activity may also help.

2. Have a Bedtime Snack

Eating something before you go to sleep may help stabilize your blood sugar. Your snack should contain no more than 20g of carbs. This keeps your liver from producing excess glucose while you sleep. Some of the most impressive carb-friend snack options are low-fat yogurt, frozen grapes, small piece of fruit, a serving of fresh salsa and tortilla chips, and soybeans.

3. Have an Active Lifestyle

A Quick Tip

Achieving Normal Blood Sugar/blood Glucose Levels

For most people with diabetes, keeping blood sugar levels in check is all about being mindful of what and how much they eat and drink. Making healthy choices and watching portion sizes can help you control your weight and your blood sugar levels.

But dont worry, you dont have to navigate this road alone. When you have nutritionists who specialize in managing diabetes by your side, you can learn to choose the right foods, such as:

• Smart carbohydrates Instead of white or flour-based bread, rice or pasta, choose whole grains, barley, brown rice, non-starchy vegetables and fresh fruit. These foods can be efficiently converted to energy.
• Lean proteins Limit or avoid red meats and go for chicken, turkey, low-fat dairy, fish and shellfish.
• Healthy fats Skip the cream sauces, butter, lard and processed foods, and start cooking with canola or olive oil. Like to snack? Munch on nuts like almonds, cashews, pecans and peanuts.

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What Is The A1c Test

The A1C test is a simple blood test that measures your average blood sugar levels over the past 2 or 3 months. The test is done at a lab or your doctors office in addition tonot instead ofregular blood sugar testing you do yourself.

A1C testing is part of the ABCs of diabetesimportant steps you can take to prevent or delay health complications down the road:

• A: Get a regular A1C test.
• B: Try to keep your blood pressure below 140/90 mm Hg .
• C: Manage your cholesterol levels.
• s: Stop smoking or dont start.

The A1C goal for most adults with diabetes is between 7% and 8%, but your goal may be different depending on your age, other health conditions, medicines youre taking, and other factors. Work with your doctor to establish a personal A1C goal for you.

Determining The Right A1c Goal For You

Just because a normal blood sugar range of 70 to 130 mg/dL is considered the healthiest doesnt necessarily mean thats the appropriate goal range for you especially if you have type 1 diabetes, or take insulin as a person with type 2 diabetes.

The reason this may not be the right goal for you is that extremely tight blood sugar management in people taking insulin can potentially lead to frequent low blood sugars which can be dangerous.

Achieving extremely tight blood sugar management, like a range of 70 to 130 mg/dL, also often requires a strict nutrition plan, more frequent than usual blood sugar monitoring, precise medication management, and most importantly, years of experience studying your own blood sugar levels.

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How Quickly Can You Lower Your A1c

Because A1c is simply a measure of your average blood sugar over 2-3 months, it can decrease by any amount over that time period. If you, from one day to the next, decreased your daily average blood sugar from 300 mg/dl to 120 mg/dl , your A1c would decrease from 12% to 6% in around two months.

However, it may not be a good idea to lower your A1c so quickly, as I will explain below.