What Should My Fasting Blood Sugar Be In The Morning

How Is It Determined If The Dawn Phenomenon Or Somogyi Effect Is Causing The High Blood Sugar Levels

Your doctor will likely ask you to check your blood sugar levels between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. for several nights in a row. If your blood sugar is consistently low during this time, the Somogyi effect is suspected. If the blood sugar is normal during this time period, the dawn phenomenon is more likely to be the cause.

Some additional clues that the Somogyi effect may be the cause include nightmares, restless sleep and overnight sweating as these are all signs of low blood sugar levels.

Prioritize Protein And Non

Remember how we talked about the âTrifectaâ of glucose-raising badness: high-fat + high-carb + high-calorie? If we knock out one or more of the âlegsâ of the Trifecta stool, then we can mitigate its adverse effects.

Based on our data, we recommend knocking out the âhigh-carbâ leg and the âhigh-calorieâ leg. Focusing your evening meal around full-fat protein and fiber helps to create a meal that results in stable glucose levels throughout the night and into the morning.

This could look like:

• Pasture-raised chicken + baked veggies
• Organ stir fry + Brussels sprouts/garlic/onions

Of course, individual response to food varies, but this food pattern tends to work very well for most people.

Normal And Diabetic Blood Sugar Ranges

For the majority of healthy individuals, normal blood sugar levels are as follows:

• Between 4.0 to 5.4 mmol/L when fasting
• Up to 7.8 mmol/L 2 hours after eating

For people with diabetes, blood sugar level targets are as follows:

• Before meals : 4 to 7 mmol/L for people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes
• After meals : under 9 mmol/L for people with type 1 diabetes and under 8.5mmol/L for people with type 2 diabetes

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What Should My Blood Sugar Level Be

When you’re 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.

Risks Of Abnormal Fasting Blood Sugar Levels

As suggested earlier, the normal fasting blood sugar level is between 70-100mg/dl.

• If your blood sugar level is below 70mg/dl then you may have hypoglycemia or low blood sugar.
• A blood sugar level of 100 suggests prediabetes or borderline diabetes.
• A blood sugar of 120 mg/dl is an indication of diabetes.

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Avoid Alcohol The Night Before And Sugar In Anything The Next Morning

Like to enjoy a tipple the night before you go to bed? Its time to cut down or back on that completely. The alcohol dehydrates the body and will mean your blood glucose level will be more saturated. The smaller amounts of glucose will affect you in bigger ways.

But this doesnt help you on a morning, right? Well, look out for drinking anything sugary on a morning. This includes your glass of orange juice. You may even want to avoid plain water!

You want to drink something that is going to keep your sugar levels to a minimum and not spart the release of insulin. That means looking for something that packs plenty of protein. Remember that protein berry smoothie? Consider that as your morning drink/breakfast. You can follow it with a glass of water if youd like.

A green smoothie would be another excellent option. It packs you full of nutrients, and you can add in the protein to get that filling element.

If you really want water, add a slice or two of lemon. You get some sweetness but without the large amounts of sugar hitting your system causing a problem.

Keeping your morning drink routine perfect will also help you reduce the stress hormones. Coffee is a stimulant and will just make your stress levels even worse. Anything with caffeine will do the same and thats usually what youll add sugar to. Opt for lemon water for a refreshing drink and then a smoothie for a no-caffeine, nutrient packed breakfast.

Have A Protein/ Fat Combined Snack

Many people find that a bedtime snack helps lower morning highs.

This is most likely because it shortens the fasting time and may slow down the livers own glucose production. If youre not using the apple cider vinegar method above, try having a mix of protein and fat combined before going to bed.

Here are a few ideas:

• A tablespoon of natural peanut butter
• A small piece of chicken with avocado or 5 olives
• A small handful of macadamia nuts
• A couple of slices of cheese

These are all simple snacks that contain both protein and fat.

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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.

Make Sure Youre Getting Adequate Nutrition Throughout The Day

If you are restricting calories to lose weight, your body may not be getting enough of the basic building blocks it needs to properly manage glucose levels. The same thing can happen in those who are very physically active and consuming energy-dense, but nutrient-poor, diets.

While it is beyond the scope of this article, there is a dynamic interplay between the various metabolic pathways of the body: fat metabolism, ketone metabolism, glucose metabolism, protein metabolism, and more. Your glucose needs can significantly vary depending on which of these metabolic pathways are dominant.

The liver holds approximately 100g of glucose in the form of glycogen. It takes about 24 hours for it to be depleted while fasting or ~90 minutes of moderate-high intensity. Glucose can be synthesized from several substrates , but generally speaking, it is easiest to simply consume the glucose you need.

Therefore, a relatively sedentary person may do well with 50-100g of carbohydrates per day, whereas an athlete or a person with a physically demanding job may do best with 2-4 times that value. The best way to determine your needs, of course, is through accurate monitoring of your glucose levels.

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What If The Range Of Your Fasting Blood Sugar Levels Go Up 100 Mg/dl Chart Explained

The chart below will help you get an idea on what goes on in case of changing of fasting blood sugar levels up 100mg/dl and down 70 mg/dl.

When your fasting blood sugar level readings are between 100 and 125 mg/dl, then most probably you may have pre-diabetes.

That is a condition in which your body insulin function is impaired. You may know it also as impaired fasting blood glucose condition.

In case your fasting blood sugar levels figures are higher than 125 mg/dl, than most probably you may have diabetes. Further diagnostic exams will determine what type of diabetes you may have.

Remember: always will be a double check to fully determine if you have diabetes or not.

This means that you’ve to monitor your fasting blood sugar levels for one week, record the results for reference when consulting your doctor. Then, and only then you will know if you are diabetic or not.

What Are Diabetic Blood Sugar Levels In Fasting

Ideally, your fasting blood sugar ranges are the same as someone without diabetes. However, if youre getting tested for diabetes, a reading of:

• 99 mg/dL or lower is normal
• 100 to 125 mg/dL indicates prediabetes
• 126 or higher indicates you have diabetes

If youre getting your blood sugar tested to determine whether or not you have prediabetes or diabetes, your doctor will likely do more than just a single fasting test. Theyll likely also do an AC1 test that measures your blood sugar levels over the past two to three months. You also may get a glucose tolerance test and a random blood sugar test.

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Why Is My Morning Blood Sugar So High

A complex array of factors affects blood sugar levels, including hormones, diet, and lifestyle.

Q: I have prediabetes and now eat minimal carbs and sugar. My doctor told me to monitor my sugar levels, morning and night. At night, two hours after eating, my sugar levels are between 112 and 130 mg/dL . But in the morning, my fasting sugar level is always higher than the night number. Why is that? What am I doing wrong?

There are a few reasons why your blood sugar may be elevated in the morning. First, its important to understand that certain hormonal changes that occur overnight may lead to high blood sugar levels in the morning.

What Are Normal Blood Glucose Levels In Healthy Individuals

Blood sugar levels can either be normal, high, or low, depending on how much glucose someone has in their bloodstream. Glucose is a simple sugar thats present in the bloodstream at all times. Normal blood glucose levels can be measured when someone fasts, eats, or after theyve eaten. A normal blood glucose level for adults, without diabetes, who havent eaten for at least eight hours is less than 100 mg/dL. A normal blood glucose level for adults, without diabetes, two hours after eating is 90 to 110 mg/dL.

Many factors affect blood sugar levels throughout the day:

• Type of food consumed, how much, and when
• Physical activity
• Menstrual periods
• Alcohol

An ideal blood sugar level for anyone without diabetes or prediabetes, regardless of age, in the morning should be less than 100 mg/dL. Remember, blood sugar levels can fluctuate throughout the day as a result of the factors previously mentioned.

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Which Is Right For You

Finding the best glucose monitoring system that is right for you is about finding the choice that best suits your needs. By considering the benefits and limitations between the different systems that are available in Canada, you can find a system that meets your individual requirements while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of your diabetes care routine.

Our glucose monitoring comparison chart provides a summary of CGM, Flash glucose monitoring devices and test strips and meters.

But What If Your Fasting Blood Sugar Is Typically In The 90s

Should you be worried?

Yes, you most certainly should be quite concerned if 90-something keeps popping up on the results screen.

The road to diabetes is a continuum, says Stacy Mitchell Doyle, MD, resident physician of FoodTherapyMD and long-time advocate of plant-based nutritional protocols.

Dr. Doyle explains, The closer it is to 100, the more you are moving towards prediabetes.

Its important to check your sugar regularly over time, and if it is consistently in the 90s and creeping up, although not officially prediabetic, it may be moving that way if there are no dietary changes.

Knock back on the pastries, candy, white bread and sugary soda and see what happens.

Fill the void, thats created by eliminating these unhealthy foods, with whole fruit, fruit smoothies, green salads, steamed vegetables, a boiled Russet potato or a big handful of whole nuts such as almonds.

Replace fast-food burgers with tuna salad sandwiches on whole grain bread.

Replace French fries with brown or basmati rice. Replace soda with water, pomegranate juice or homemade lemonade sweetened with Stevia.

Check your fasting blood sugar after several days of sticking to these dietary changes.

Youll be delighted at what youll see! Just make sure youre getting fruitful sleep, since sleep disruptions can yield a fasting glucose in the low 100s.

Another way to get your fasting glucose persistently under 90 is to take up strength training.

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Adopt A Healthy Morning Ritual

Developing a morning ritual is a great habit for a healthy mind and body and it will also help lower your morning blood sugar as well.

When you get up, have a small protein/ fat combined snack , then try doing some stretching or go for a shortwalk first thing in the morning just 5-10 minutes to get moving.

Exercise improves insulin sensitivity and moves glucose out of the muscles and into the cells.

Its often best to have that protein/ fat snack first though, before you do the exercise.

What Causes High Blood Sugar Levels In The Morning

Commonly known reasons why your blood sugar may be high in the morning include high-carb bedtime snacks and not enough diabetes medications.

Yet two lesser-known reasons may be causing your morning blood sugar woes: the dawn phenomenon and the Somogyi effect. These causes of high morning blood sugar levels are a result of body changes and reactions that happen while you are sleeping.

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Causes Related To Personal Health

Insulin resistance

This condition occurs when the cells in your muscles, fat, and liver are unable to use the glucose in your bloodstream for energy. Your pancreas responds to this increase in glucose by producing more insulin to help your body process it. This excess amount of insulin in the bloodstream can eventually cause your body to lose insulin sensitivity or build resistance to it, leading to higher blood glucose levels.

Bodyweight and body fat

Research connects being overweight and having a higher body fat percentage with high blood glucose levels. In fact, a high body fat percentage might be a clearer indicator of high blood sugar and diabetes than weight or body mass index .

Other health conditions

Certain conditions could make you more likely to have high blood glucose. These include Cushingâs disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome , and gestational diabetes. Blood glucose may also rise as the result of common illnesses like a head cold or the flu.

Hormonal changes

It isnât just stress and sleep that can cause fluctuations in hormones. Illness, physical pain and trauma, menopause or menstruation can as well. In any of these instances, your blood glucose levels may rise due to the changes in your hormone levels.

Medications

Gut issues

A growingbody of research links imbalances in the microbiota living in our guts to an inability to regulate glucose levels in the blood. This is sometimes due to antibiotic use or infection.

Genetics

What Is The Normal Range For Blood Sugar Levels And What Blood Sugar Level Constitutes A True Emergency

Dr. Horton answers the question: ‘Normal Range For Blood Sugar Levels?’

— Question:What is the normal range for blood sugar levels, and what blood sugar level constitutes a true emergency?

Answer:Now, in a normal individual we measure blood sugar under different circumstances. What we call fasting blood sugar or blood glucose levels is usually done six to eight hours after the last meal. So it’s most commonly done before breakfast in the morning and the normal range there is 70 to 100 milligrams per deciliter.

Now when you eat a meal, blood sugar generally rises and in a normal individual it usually does not get above a 135 to 140 milligrams per deciliter. So there is a fairly narrow range of blood sugar throughout the entire day.

Now in our diabetic patients we see both low blood sugar levels that we call hypoglycemia, or elevated blood sugars, hyperglycemia. Now, if the blood sugar drops below about 60 or 65 milligrams per deciliter, people will generally get symptoms, which are some shakiness, feeling of hunger, maybe a little racing of the heart and they will usually be trenchant or if they eat something, it goes away right away. But if blood sugar drops below 50 and can get down as low as 40 or 30 or even 20, then there is a progressive loss of mental function and eventually unconsciousness and seizures. And of course that is very dangerous and a medical emergency.

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Recommended Blood Sugar Targets For Most People With Diabetes*

Your targets may not be the same as the examples in this chart. Your targets are important and should be specific to you.

* This information is based on the Diabetes Canada 2018 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Diabetes in Canada and is a guide.** A1C is a measurement of your average blood sugar control for the last two to three months and approximately 50 per cent of the value comes from the last 30 days.