How Your Body Regulates Blood Sugar
If you don’t have diabetes, your body naturally regulates blood sugar levels. After you eat a meal, your body breaks down foods into their components, which are absorbed from your gut into your bloodstream. Any carb-based foods, like milk and dairy, starches and fruit, will be broken down into their componentsmuch of which is glucose. Once higher glucose levels are detected in your bloodtypically after a mealthe pancreas releases insulin, which causes the body to absorb glucose from the blood, thereby lowering blood sugar levels back to normal, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If your blood sugar levels get too low, the insulin level goes down and glucagon is released, which causes the liver to turn stored glycogen back into glucose and release it into the blood. This helps bring blood sugar levels back to normal.
Is It Beneficial To Monitor Blood Sugar If You Don’t Have Diabetes
“I really can’t imagine why, though it would certainly be fascinating,” says Virginia-based Jill Weisenberger, M.S., RDN, creator of The Prediabetes Meal Planning Crash Course. Weisenberger explains that blood sugar levels fluctuate all day whether you have diabetes, prediabetes or neither. That is normal and exactly what’s supposed to happen. According to the CDC, a healthy person’s blood sugar levels range from about 70 to 140 mg/dL depending on food intake, exercise and more. In people with diabetes, however, depending on medications, blood sugar levels can vary more.
Weisenberger explains, “If you don’t have prediabetes or diabetes, and your blood sugar fluctuates in the normal range, there’s no need to measure blood sugar levels.”
How To Prevent Morning Hyperglycemia
While morning hyperglycemia could be the bodys automatic response, you can certainly take steps to try to prevent it.
General steps
You could try some general steps that could help lower blood sugar in the night, such as eating your evening meals earlier in the day or having fewer carbs in your evening meal.
Alternatively, you could consider doing exercise in the evening, such as a brisk walk before bed. You might also consider changing your medication doses for the night or changing the type of insulin you use. As always, make such changes in consultation with your healthcare professional.
Dawn phenomenon
If you think that the high blood sugar might be caused by the dawn phenomenon, then try to make sure that you are well-rested. If your body is getting enough rest, with a full eight hours of sleep, then it might not think that it needs to release that extra energy. More generally, stress and diabetes leads to higher blood sugar levels so it is worth getting enough sleep.
Somogyi phenomenon
With the Somogyi phenomenon, youll want to take the opposite steps because you want to prevent low blood sugar during the night. It may seem somewhat counterintuitive, but you might need to take less insulin, or eat more carbs, or do less exercise before bed.
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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.
Levels In The Morning
The best time to check blood sugar levels in the morning is right when you wake up and before you eat anything. This gives you a glimpse of what may be happening overnight, and it gives you a baseline for the day.
These are goal levels, according to The Joslin Diabetes Center:
- Under 70 mg/dl if you do not have diabetes.
- 70 to 130 mg/dl if you have diabetes.
The dawn effect can often lead to a high morning measurement in diabetes. This is your bodys tendency to get ready for the day by raising blood sugar by increasing levels of counter-regulatory hormones the ones that counteract insulin as in normal blood sugar. For people with diabetes, you do not have the capacity to counterbalance this rise in blood sugar, so levels can be dangerously high.
Ways to lower your morning blood sugar value include:
- Eating dinner earlier
- Checking your medications making sure you are taking them properly and asking your doctor if they are correct
- Going for a walk after dinner
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What Should My Blood Sugar Level Be When I Wake Up
These are goal levels, according to The Joslin Diabetes Center:
- Under 100 mg/dl if you do not have diabetes.
- 70 to 130 mg/dl if you have diabetes.
The dawn effect can often lead to a high morning measurement in diabetes. This is your body’s tendency to get ready for the day by raising blood sugar by increasing levels of counter-regulatory hormones ââ¬â the ones that counteract insulin as in normal blood sugar. For people with diabetes, you do not have the capacity to counterbalance this rise in blood sugar, so levels can be dangerously high.
Ways to lower your morning blood sugar value include:
- Eating dinner earlier
- Checking your medications ââ¬â making sure you are taking them properly and asking your doctor if they are correct
- Going for a walk after dinner
- Including protein with your dinner
What Is The Dawn Phenomenon
Your body uses glucose for energy and it is important to have enough extra energy to be able to wake up in the morning. So for a period of time in the early morning hours, usually between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m., your body starts churning out stored glucose to prepare for the upcoming day.
At the same time, your body releases hormones that reduce your sensitivity to insulin. In addition, these events may be happening while your diabetes medication doses taken the day before are wearing off.
These events cause your body’s blood sugar levels to rise in the morning .
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How Do Blood Sugar Levels Work
Evaluation of accuracy of ambulatory glucose profile in an outpatient setting in youngsters with type 1 diabetes Safe and acceptable use of insulin and different antihyperglycemic agents in hospital 35Kutz TL, Roszhart JM, Hale M, Dolan V, Suchomski G, Jaeger C Improving complete care for sufferers with diabetes 28Kikuta K, Masamune A, Shimosegawa T Impaired glucose tolerance in acute pancreatitis.
Your physique also needs insulin so as to use sugar for power In basic, main health care practitioners in low income nations wouldn t have access to the essential technologies wanted to help individuals with diabetes properly handle their disease Access to essential medicines including life saving insulin and applied sciences is limited in low and middle income international locations.
They usually are not meant to diagnose, cure, prevent or deal with any illness or situation This program and its services shouldn t be used for the monitoring or administration of diabetes The NutriSense packages and providers are to assist members discover and attain What Should Blood Sugar Be When You Wake Up their health potential DKA can be deadly if left untreated, so anyone experiencing these symptoms should seek care instantly.
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What Should My Blood Sugar Level Be
When youre first diagnosed with diabetes, your diabetes care team will usually tell you what your blood sugar level is and what you should aim to get it down to.
You may be advised to use a testing device to monitor your blood sugar level regularly at home.
Or you may have an appointment with a nurse or doctor every few months to see what your average blood sugar level is. This is known as your HbA1c level.
Target blood sugar levels differ for everyone, but generally speaking:
- if you monitor yourself at home with a self-testing kit a normal target is 4 to 7mmol/l before eating and under 8.5 to 9mmol/l 2 hours after a meal
- if your HbA1c level is tested every few months a normal HbA1c target is below 48mmol/mol
The Diabetes UK website has more about blood sugar levels and testing.
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How Can I Pay For Tests And Diabetes Supplies
Medicareexternal icon, Medicaid, and most private insurance plans pay for the A1C test and fasting blood sugar test as well as some diabetes supplies. Check your plan or ask your health care team for help finding low-cost or free supplies, and see How to Save Money on Diabetes Care for more resources.
Whos At Risk Of Low Blood Sugar At Night
The Somogyi effect is a common phenomenon that happens in people taking insulin injections and sometimes due to intake of heavy doses of anti-diabetes medicines like sulphonylureas .
Other factors can include:
Wondering how alcohol intake can cause a Somogyi effect? Know all about the science behind alcohol intake and diabetes here.
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Ensure A Good Nights Sleep
Never underestimate the power of a good nights sleep. A single night of inadequate sleep makes our body react in a manner similar to insulin resistance. It can lead to raised blood sugar levels. A good nights sleep can improve glucose metabolism. It will also keep you motivated to follow through with your diet and exercise routine.
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Other Severe Symptoms Of Hyperglycaemia Include:
- Blood vessel damage
Mild hyperglycaemia, depending on the cause, will not typically require medical treatment. Most people with this condition can lower their blood sugar levels sufficiently through dietary and lifestyle changes.
Those with type 1 diabetes will require the administration of insulin , while those with type 2 diabetes will often use a combination of injectable and oral medications , although some may also require insulin.
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Low Insulin Levels During The Night
You may experience low insulin levels during the night if you take supplemental insulin, either from a pump or daily injections. Most often, there are three reasons that insulin levels might be too low overnight, leading to raised morning blood sugar:
-
Your insulin pump is not set to give you a high enough dose of background insulin overnight.
-
Your injection of long-lasting insulin doesnt provide a high enough dose.
-
You injected the long-lasting insulin too early in the day, and its effects have reduced overnight.
Blood Sugar Chart: Summary
The fasting blood sugar, 2-hour post-meal blood sugar, and HbA1C tests are important ways to diagnose prediabetes and diabetes, as well as indicate how well a persons diabetes is being managed. If you think you have diabetes, its important to not try and diagnose yourself by doing a finger-stick with a home blood glucose meter. There are strict standards and procedures that laboratories use for diagnosing diabetes therefore, you should get tested at your doctors office or at a laboratory.
Its also important to talk with your doctor to make sure you understand a) how often you should have certain tests, such as a fasting blood glucose or HbA1C test b) what your results mean and c) what your blood sugar and HbA1C targets are.
If you have not been previously diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes but your results are above normal, your doctor may recommend other tests and should discuss a plan of treatment with you. Treatment may include lifestyle changes, such as weight loss, a healthy eating plan, and regular physical activity. You may need to start taking diabetes medications, including insulin. If you are diagnosed with diabetes, its recommended that you learn how to check your blood sugars with a meter so that you and your health care team can determine how your treatment plan is working for you.
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Low Blood Sugar Levels In Diabetes
People with diabetes can have low blood sugar levels because of the medicines they have to take to manage their diabetes. They may need a hormone called or diabetes pills to help their bodies use the sugar in their blood.
These medicines help take the sugar out of the blood and get it into the body’s cells, which makes the blood sugar level go down. But sometimes it’s a tricky balancing act and blood sugar levels can get too low.
People with diabetes need to keep their blood sugars from getting too highor too low. Keeping blood sugar levels in a healthy range means balancing when and what they eat, and when they exercise with when they take medicines.
Sleep Impacts Brain Function
Glucose is fuel for the brain. It provides the energy needed to carry out its functions. When youâre sleep-deprived, the metabolic activity in your brain decreases significantly.
Overall, studies state that sleep deprivation has damaging effects on brain functionâparticularly functions such as alertness, attention, decision making, and cognitive processes.
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High Blood Sugar Levels During The Night And In The Morning
Your blood sugar levels may be normal before bed but rise during the night.
Symptoms of high blood sugar levels while you sleep include:
-
Sleeping poorly
When you sleep, your body doesnt require as much fuel as it does when you are awake. However, when you wake up, your body gets ready to work and produce energy, and your liver begins releasing glucose into the blood. This causes the pancreas to release extra insulin to handle the rising blood sugar levels in your body.
With diabetes, your body cant produce sufficient insulin to process the released glucose. This causes blood sugar levels to rise in the morning.
Is It Normal For Blood Sugar To Rise In The Morning
The bottom line: Yes, itâs normal for blood sugar to increase temporarily in the early morning hours, but your body should quickly take that excess blood glucose into your cells. As long as your morning blood sugar doesnât spike to pre-diabetic or diabetic levelsâor remain elevated for hours upon wakingâyour body is just doing its job.
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Consider Talking To Your Doctor
four instances the amount of insulin needed by a nonpregnant woman Often one dose of long acting insulin at bedtime is enough, with rapid acting insulins, ie, common insulin, insulin aspart recombinant , or insulin lispro recombinant used to Normal Blood Sugar assist optimum glycemic management Insulin glargine , as quickly as What Should Blood Sugar Be When You Wake Up used for gestational diabetes, is no longer beneficial for pregnant women Because stress can significantly raise blood glucose levels, stress management is an important part of therapy.
Prediabetes means your blood sugar degree is greater than regular, but it is decrease than the diabetes vary It additionally means you may be at larger risk of getting sort 2 diabetes andheart illness Regarding age, data exhibits that for each decade after 40 What Should Blood Sugar Be When You Wake Up years of age no matter weight there is a rise in incidence of diabetes The prevalence of diabetes in persons 65 years of age and older is round 25 Type 2 diabetes can additionally be more frequent in certain ethnic teams.
For probably the most part, you can t feel what your blood glucose degree is except it s pretty high or it s low The purpose of diabetes treatment is to keep blood sugar ranges as near to regular as attainable Again, only a health care provider can diagnose an issue along with your blood sugar.
Managing Blood Sugar Levels Like A Pro
Patients with hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia are likely familiar with the occasional challenges in monitoring their blood glucose levels. Maintaining blood glucose levels within the specified ranges is crucial.
Any abrupt change in your blood glucose levels can affect your health. If ignored, such problems can develop into severe organ disorders.
The HealthifyPro CGM steps in during these circumstances. You can receive real-time information on your blood glucose levels from the CGM. Additionally, you can decide on your food and exercise habits based on the data gathered.
HealthifyPro is a complete package that includes CGM, Pro Coaches Consultation, and a smart scale that analyses your weight concerning body-fat percentage, muscle mass, etc.
A metabolic panel is also available, which assesses your metabolic health. It is a full-proof approach focusing on testing, evaluating, and real-time monitoring. The expert nutritionists help create a customised meal plan depending on your assessment and keep track of your performance.
You can use this tool to check your blood glucose levels. As soon as you start using the CGM, you can see how your blood glucose levels alter throughout the day. Then, you may regulate and control your blood glucose levels at any time of the day with cutting-edge AI and coach interventions. Consequently, a continuous glucose monitor helps track your blood glucose levels easily.
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