What Should Your Blood Sugar Be At Bedtime

A Low Blood Sugar Level And Driving

You may still be allowed to drive if you have diabetes or you’re at risk of a low blood sugar level for another reason, but you’ll need to do things to reduce the chance of this happening while you’re driving.

You also need to tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and your car insurance company about your condition.

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What You Can Drink When You Have Diabetes

Water is undoubtedly the best drink for you. Its free of any sugar and carbs and has no side effects . However, if you are looking for something tastier, you can try some of these drinks for an evening snack. You can consume them sometimes as they are and sometimes with a few moderations:

Lemonade

Summers are incomplete without this ultra-refreshing drink. Substitute the restaurant-bought lemonade with this easy recipe squeeze a lemon in a glass of water, add some zero-calorie sweetener, drop in some ice cubes, and mix well to create a heavenly glass of freshness.

Fruit Smoothie

A homemade smoothie is much healthier than the store-bought version as the latter can have much more sugar and carbs than the former. Just mix a handful of your favorite berries strawberry, blueberry, cranberry, etc. with a banana, put in some ice cubes, blend, and enjoy!

Ginger Ale

Mix a spoonful of finely grated ginger in seltzer water. Finally, add some zero-calorie sugar, and here is your homemade, healthiest ginger ale.

Chocolate Milk

Chocolate milk makes for an excellent post-workout recovery drink. Just add 3 teaspoons of cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons of sugar substitute in some almond or soy milk.

What Are The Signs Of Hypoglycemia

An individual may frequently wake up in the middle of the night as a result of nighttime hypoglycemia. In other instances, though, people may know if they experienced hypoglycemia during their sleep if they notice the following symptoms:

• Waking up with a headache
• Waking up in a sweat
• Getting unusual feelings of tiredness throughout the day
• Experiencing anxiety or heart palpitations
• Feeling confused, dizzy or weak

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A Low Blood Sugar Level Without Diabetes

A low blood sugar level is uncommon in people who do not have diabetes.

Possible causes include:

• a gastric bypass
• other medical conditions, such as problems with your hormone levels, pancreas, liver, kidneys, adrenal glands or heart
• some medicines, including quinine

See a GP if you think you keep getting symptoms of a low blood sugar level. They can arrange some simple tests to check if your blood sugar level is low and try to find out what’s causing it.

How Can I Treat Low Blood Sugar

If youve had low blood sugar without feeling or noticing symptoms , you may need to check your blood sugar more often to see if its low and treat it. Driving with low blood sugar can be dangerous, so be sure to check your blood sugar before you get behind the wheel.

Carry supplies for treating low blood sugar with you. If you feel shaky, sweaty, or very hungry or have other symptoms, check your blood sugar. Even if you dont have symptoms but think you may have low blood sugar, check it. If your blood sugar is lower than 70 mg/dL, do one of the following immediately:

• Take four glucose tablets.
• Drink four ounces of fruit juice.
• Drink four ounces of regular soda, not diet soda.
• Eat four pieces of hard candy.

Wait for 15 minutes and then check your blood sugar again. Do one of the above treatments again until your blood sugar is 70 mg/dL or above and eat a snack if your next meal is an hour or more away. If you have problems with low blood sugar, ask your doctor if your treatment plan needs to be changed.

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What Is An Hba1c Test And How Does It Relate To Blood Glucose

HbA1c tests show average blood glucose levels over a sustained period of time. HbA1c is glycated haemoglobin and more of it is produced in the body by high blood glucose levels.

Different scores of HbA1c show good, fair, poor and bad control of diabetes. Increasing HbA1c levels indicate greater risk of complications.

What To Do When Your Blood Sugar Is High Or Low

High blood sugar can harm you. If your blood sugar is high, you need to know how to bring it down. Here are some questions to ask yourself if your blood sugar is high.

• Are you eating too much or too little? Have you been following your diabetes meal plan?
• Are you taking your diabetes medicines correctly?
• Has your provider changed your medicines?
• Is your insulin expired? Check the date on your insulin.
• Has your insulin been exposed to very high or very low temperatures?
• If you take insulin, have you been taking the correct dose? Are you changing your syringes or pen needles?
• Are you afraid of having low blood sugar? Is that causing you to eat too much or take too little insulin or other diabetes medicine?
• Have you injected insulin into a firm, numb, bumpy, or overused area? Have you been rotating sites?
• Have you been less or more active than usual?
• Do you have a cold, flu, or another illness?
• Have you had more stress than usual?
• Have you been checking your blood sugar every day?
• Have you gained or lost weight?

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What Is Diabetic Ketoacidosis

If you think you may have low blood sugar, check it even if you dont have symptoms.

When too many ketones are produced too fast, they can build up in your body and cause diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA. DKA is very serious and can cause a coma or even death. Common symptoms of DKA include:

• Fast, deep breathing.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Stomach pain.

If you think you may have DKA, test your urine for ketones. Follow the test kit directions, checking the color of the test strip against the color chart in the kit to see your ketone level. If your ketones are high, . DKA requires treatment in a hospital.

DKA happens most in people with type 1 diabetes and is sometimes the first sign of type 1 in people who havent yet been diagnosed. People with type 2 diabetes can also develop DKA, but its less common.

Research Design And Methods

Four men and seven women diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who were not taking insulin completed the study. Participants provided a clinically determined A1C reading from a recent blood analysis. All participants gave written informed consent, and the study was approved by the institutional review board at Arizona State University.

Participants maintained 24-h diet records for 3 days and measured fasting glucose at 0700 h for 3 consecutive days with a calibrated glucometer before the start of the study. Participants were instructed to continue usual prescription medication use during the study. Utilizing a randomized crossover design with a 3- to 5-day washout period between treatments, participants followed a standardized meal plan for 2 days, consuming either 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or water at bedtime with 1 oz cheese . The standardized meal plan was designed to reflect the individual’s typical diet. Participants were instructed to record all foods and beverages ingested during each 2-day treatment period.

Fasting glucose was recorded with a calibrated glucometer by each participant during the trial: at baseline and day 2 at 0700 h. These results were downloaded by the research staff from each participant’s glucometer memory. A multivariate repeated-measures ANOVA test with body weight as a covariate was used to determine a significant time-by-treatment effect using SPSS .

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Consuming A High Carbohydrate + High Fat Meal

When you consume food that is high carbohydrate and high fat , the fat slows down digestion, causing glucose to be released into the bloodstream over a long period of time. This often results in elevated glucose values for 5 or more hours.

Stuart Chipkin, one of the lead authors of the study âContinuous Glucose Monitoring in NonâInsulin-Using Individuals with Type 2 Diabetesâ, demonstrates this phenomenon via CGM data.

The study participants experienced hour after hour of abnormally high glucose levels due to the high fat + high carb food combinations in their diet.

What Causes Low Blood Sugar

Low blood sugar has many causes, including missing a meal, taking too much insulin, taking other diabetes medicines, exercising more than normal, and drinking alcohol. Blood sugar below 70 mg/dL is considered low.

Signs of low blood sugar are different for everyone. Common symptoms include:

• Shaking.
• Dizziness.
• Hunger.

Know what your individual symptoms are so you can catch low blood sugar early and treat it. If you think you may have low blood sugar, check it even if you dont have symptoms. Low blood sugar can be dangerous and should be treated as soon as possible.

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How Can I Check My Blood Sugar

Use a blood sugar meter or a continuous glucose monitor to check your blood sugar. A blood sugar meter measures the amount of sugar in a small sample of blood, usually from your fingertip. A CGM uses a sensor inserted under the skin to measure your blood sugar every few minutes. If you use a CGM, youll still need to test daily with a blood sugar meter to make sure your CGM readings are accurate.

Recommended Target Blood Glucose Level Ranges

The NICE recommended target blood glucose levels are stated below for adults with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and children with type 1 diabetes.

In addition, the International Diabetes Federations target ranges for people without diabetes is stated.

The table provides general guidance. An individual target set by your healthcare team is the one you should aim for.

*The non-diabetic figures are provided for information but are not part of NICE guidelines.

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Avoid Alcohol Before Nighttime

Another good habit is to avoid alcohol before going to bed. This can cause your blood sugar to increase quickly but leave you with low levels overnight. Avoiding alcohol for a few hours before bedtime will help keep the glucose in balance and prevent fluctuations.

If you do drink alcoholic beverages before going to bed try to eat a healthy snack with some carbohydrates to catch that low blood sugar after drinking alcohol.

What Are Blood Sugar Targets

A blood sugar target is the range you try to reach as much as possible. These are typical targets:

• Before a meal: 80 to 130 mg/dL.
• Two hours after the start of a meal: Less than 180 mg/dL.

Your blood sugar targets may be different depending on your age, any additional health problems you have, and other factors. Be sure to talk to your health care team about which targets are best for you.

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Vinegar Ingestion At Bedtime Moderates Waking Glucose Concentrations In Adults With Well

Given the importance of maintaining acceptable blood glucose concentrations, there is much interest in identifying foods and diet patterns that will help individuals with diabetes manage their condition. Based on previous data indicating that vinegar ingestion at mealtime reduces postprandial glycemia , the aim of this pilot study was to examine whether vinegar ingestion at bedtime reduces the next-morning fasting glucose concentration in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

How Can I Treat High Blood Sugar

Talk to your doctor about how to keep your blood sugar levels within your target range. Your doctor may suggest the following:

• Be more active. Regular exercise can help keep your blood sugar levels on track. Important: dont exercise if ketones are present in your urine. This can make your blood sugar go even higher.
• Take medicine as instructed. If your blood sugar is often high, your doctor may change how much medicine you take or when you take it.
• Follow your diabetes meal plan. Ask your doctor or dietitian for help if youre having trouble sticking to it.
• Check your blood sugar as directed by your doctor. Check more often if youre sick or if youre concerned about high or low blood sugar.
• Talk to your doctor about adjusting how much insulin you take and what types of insulin to use.

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How Does Lack Of Sleep Raise Your Risk

Itâs hard to know for certain. Many studies have suggested that short sleepers have irregular eating habits, snack more, and are more likely to eat unhealthy foods.

Other research has found that shortchanging sleep can directly affect how the body makes other hormones, which in turn affect blood sugar. For example, when you stay up late, your body makes more of the hormone cortisol, which affects how insulin works.

Also, growing evidence shows that disrupting your bodyâs biological clock by being awake at night can make your cells more resistant to insulin. In one study, researchers altered the circadian rhythms of 16 healthy volunteers by allowing only 5 hours of sleep each night for 5 nights, much like a sleep-deprived workweek. When those volunteers ate food at night — a time when the body isnât biologically prepared for a spike in blood sugar — their bodies didnât use insulin normally.

Your Blood Sugar Isnt Just Because Of What You Eat

Mainstream media would have you believe that your blood sugar levels are impacted only by what you eat and how much you exercise, but people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes who test their blood sugars frequently could tell you otherwise.

Its especially important to keep this mind when looking at your own blood sugars and your goals because there are certain variables and challenges that impact blood sugar levels that you cant always control.

For example:

• Menstrual cycles: raises blood sugar and insulin needs
• Adrenaline rushes from competitive sports, heated arguments, rollercoaster rides: raises blood sugar and insulin needs
• The common cold and other illnesses: usually raises blood sugar and insulin needs
• Hormonal changes due to puberty and healthy growth in young adults: raises blood sugar and insulin needs
• An injury which raises overall inflammation levels: raises blood sugar and insulin needs
• Glucogenesis during anaerobic exercise: raises blood sugar

While you cant necessarily prevent these factors that affect your blood sugar from occurring, you can work with your diabetes healthcare team to adjust your insulin, other diabetes medications, nutrition and activity levels to help compensate for them when they do occur.

For example, when engaging in anaerobic exercise like weightlifting many people with type 1 diabetes find it necessary to take a small bolus of insulin prior to or during their workout because anaerobic exercise can actually raise blood sugar.

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How To Lower Morning Blood Sugar

Whether a morning high is caused by the dawn phenomenon or something else, here are a few things you can try to lower your blood sugar levels:

• Physical activity when you wake up can help bring your glucose level down. Even going for a walk can be helpful.

• To learn about exercise guidelines and glucose management strategies, click here.

• Read Adam Browns take on walking the most underrated diabetes exercise strategy.

This article is part of a series on time in 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 .

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Normal Blood Glucose Levels In Healthy Individuals

Blood glucose levels, also known as blood sugar levels, can be normal, high, or low. The blood sugar levels are generally measured after 8 hours of eating.

A normal blood sugar range for a healthy adult after 8 hours of fasting is > 70 mg/dL. and < 100 mg/dL.

While a normal blood sugar level in a healthy person after 2 hours of eating is between 90 to 100 mg/dL.

Blood glucose levels change throughout the day. The major factors for such change in the blood glucose levels are as follows: