Diabetes Tests,Normal Blood Sugar Levels,Diabetes - Diagnosis and treatment,Manage Blood SugarWhat is Normal Blood Sugar Range by Age?
Three Of The 'most Important Factors' To Consider For High Blood Sugar Levels – New Study
As for an internal assessment, this consists of a blood pressure reading, a cholesterol blood test, and checking for kidney disease.
Finnish researchers say: "Early identification of patients with poor glycemic control is of paramount importance."
Identifying people who struggle to control their blood sugar levels enables medical practitioners to zone in on treatment.
"Delayed intensification of treatment increases the risk of complications, which is also reflected in higher costs of care," the researchers added.
High Blood Sugar Management: These Lifestyle Changes Are MUST, Check Tips By Doctor
Elevated levels of blood sugar or diabetes can cause many health problems, and if left untreated, they can affect the body's key organs - heart, kidney, liver - that can even turn fatal. Dr Harish Kumar, Clinical Professor, and Head, the Centre for Endocrinology and Diabetes, Amrita Hospital, Kochi, shares, "The first thing to remember, about controlling diabetes, is that you must maintain your lifestyle properly. So, a healthy lifestyle is a must. Now, a healthy lifestyle has three components – the first component is diet, the second is exercise and the third is stress management."
Dr Kumar tells how these three aspects of lifestyle can be regulated to control diabetes
Modify your diet
1) A relatively low-calorie diet, as prescribed by your doctor or dietician, is recommended for diabetes.
2) Ensure that you have more fruits and vegetables in your diet. There are some fruits that you can eat safely when you have diabetes. Some others should not be eaten by patients with diabetes, because they may shoot the blood sugar up. Click HERE to check the list of 7 fruits with low gylcemic index that diabetics can eat.
Do regular exercise
1) Apart from taking care of the diet, another very important component to keep your blood sugar under control, is to do regular exercise.
2) It is generally advised that you do 40-45 minutes of brisk aerobic exercise – if possible daily, or at least about five times a week. Now, aerobic exercise means that it would be jogging, walking fast, swimming, and playing games like shuttlecock, tennis, and basketball.
3) For patients who are older, simply a brisk walk for 40-45 minutes will serve the purpose.
4) Even if you are unable to or don’t have the time to do brisk walking for 40-45 minutes at a stretch, then people - especially people busy in the office - should ensure a 10-12 minutes casual walk after each meal. Recent evidence has shown that this also tends to reduce blood sugar overall.
Manage your stress
People may not pay much attention to this, but controlling stress is an important component of lifestyle management because whenever you get stressed, your blood sugar and blood pressure tend to rise. It's therefore very essential to learn to deal with stress. It's not possible to eliminate stress from our lives, but what we CAN do is learn how to manage stress. Yoga and meditation techniques will actually help us to reduce the stress levels in our reactions to various life situations.
Fasting Blood Sugar (glucose): Normal Levels And Testing
Blood sugar tends to peak about an hour after eating and declines after that. Fasting blood sugar levels are measured several hours after eating, as this gives a more accurate view of a person’s glucose levels. In most cases, fasting blood sugar levels should be below 5.7%.
According to the American Diabetes Association, a measure of 5.7–6.4% indicates prediabetes. At 6.5%, a doctor will diagnose diabetes.
High fasting blood sugar levels point to insulin resistance or diabetes, while abnormally low fasting blood sugar can be due to diabetes medications.
Knowing when to test and what to look for can help people stay healthy, especially if they have diabetes or are at risk of developing the condition.
Keep reading to learn more about fasting blood sugar levels, including information on testing and tips for maintaining normal levels.
The body needs glucose for energy, and glucose comes from the food a person eats. However, the body does not use all of this energy at once. Insulin makes it possible to store and release glucose as necessary.
Following a meal, blood sugar levels rise and usually peak about an hour after eating.
How high blood sugar rises and the precise timing of the peak depends on a person’s diet.
Food-related factors that can trigger significant rises include:
As blood sugar rises, the pancreas releases insulin. Insulin lowers blood sugar, breaking it down so the body can use it for energy or store it for later.
However, people who have diabetes have difficulties with insulin in one of two ways.
Those with type 1 diabetes do not produce enough insulin because their body attacks its insulin-producing cells. Those with type 2 diabetes do not respond well to insulin in their body and, later, may not make enough insulin.
In both cases, people experience high blood sugar levels and have difficulty using glucose, or blood sugar.
Fasting blood sugar depends on three factors:
Blood sugar levels between meals offer insight into how the body manages sugar. High levels of fasting blood sugar suggest the body was not able to lower blood sugar levels.
This points to insulin resistance, inadequate insulin production, or in some cases, both.
Very low blood sugar levels may indicate that diabetes medications are lowering the blood sugar too much.
To assess fasting blood sugar levels, people or healthcare professionals can use a glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) test, a conventional blood sugar test, or continuous glucose monitoring.
The HbA1c test
HbA1c is a test doctors use to assess overall blood sugar control. The HbA1c test measures how the body manages blood sugar over time, usually during the past 3 months.
A person will undergo this test at a doctor’s office or in a lab. If levels are very high, the individual may need a second test. The results appear as a percentage.
Blood sugar testing at home
A person can test their blood sugar levels at home.
In most cases, doctors ask people to measure fasting blood sugar immediately upon waking and before they have anything to eat or drink. It may also be appropriate to test blood sugar before eating or 2 hours after a meal, which is when blood sugar returns to normal levels.
The right time to test depends on treatment goals and other factors. For example, most people with diabetes do not need to test between meals unless they are using a diabetes drug that can lower blood sugar. Other people may test between meals if they feel their sugar levels may be low.
Because people with type 1 diabetes do not make enough insulin, they need to test their blood sugar levels several times a day so they can adjust their insulin doses.
A person will test blood sugar levels by:
Find out more about home blood sugar testing here.
Continuous glucose monitoring
Another option for daily use is continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).
For CGM, a person wears a monitor 24 hours a day. The monitor records their blood glucose levels on an ongoing basis.
CGM can give a more accurate picture of a person’s levels and fluctuations throughout the day. However, this type of kit can be more expensive in some cases, depending on a person’s insurance coverage.
There are also nonfasting blood tests.
These include the random plasma glucose (RPG) test and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).
For an RPG, a doctor does a conventional blood sugar test when a person is not fasting.
For an OGTT, a healthcare professional tests a person’s blood sugar levels over 2 hours, starting with a fasting blood test. Next, the person drinks a sugary beverage, and the doctor takes a blood sample every 30–60 minutes over a 2-hour period.
Blood sugar target levels are the ideal range that people should try to maintain as often as possible.
Because blood sugar levels vary throughout the day due to factors such as medications, food intake, and physical activity, no single blood sugar reading can reveal how well someone processes sugar.
HbA1c results
According to the American Diabetes Association, the results of an HbA1c test will be one of the following:
Prediabetes is when blood sugar levels are higher than normal levels but not high enough to indicate diabetes. People can take measures to reverse prediabetes and stop diabetes from developing. Find out more here.
Home testing
Doctors express target blood sugar numbers for people with diabetes in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) as follows:
Meanwhile, for people without diabetes, target blood sugar levels are:
For people with prediabetes, the goal is to reach the same target blood sugar levels as people without diabetes.
However, the target numbers will vary between people. A healthcare professional will help a person identify their target levels.
Fasting blood sugar test
Doctors consider a fasting blood sugar level of less than 99 mg/dL as normal.
On the other hand, fasting blood sugar levels ranging from 100–125 mg/dL indicate prediabetes, and levels of 126 mg/dL or above indicate diabetes.
It is vital to follow a healthy diet to keep fasting blood sugar from rising too high. Strategies include:
People who take diabetes medications and are at risk of dangerous blood sugar dips should follow a similar diet. They also must take proactive steps to prevent blood sugar from dropping. This includes:
People are likely to experience symptoms if their blood sugar levels are too low or too high.
Low blood sugar levels
Blood sugar that is too low can cause symptoms such as:
In extreme cases, low blood sugar can trigger seizures, loss of consciousness, confusion, and an inability to drink or eat.
Find out more about hypoglycemia or low blood sugar here.
High blood sugar levels
High blood sugar levels, or hyperglycemia, can cause the following symptoms:
As with low blood sugar, high blood sugar may cause loss of consciousness or seizures if people do not get treatment. Persistent high blood sugar can increase the risk of serious complications that doctors relate to diabetes, such as cardiovascular disease.
Any significant change in blood sugar patterns warrants a visit to a doctor. People with diabetes and those at risk of diabetes should also speak with a doctor if:
Diabetes needs ongoing monitoring, and the treatment can change over time. Information about diet and exercise is vital for a doctor to outline a proper treatment plan for each individual.
People with diabetes can assist their doctor by keeping detailed logs of their blood sugar levels and any relevant information, such as changes in activity, medications, or sleep. They should talk with a doctor about dietary and lifestyle habits that affect their blood sugar levels.
To manage diabetes, it is important to monitor and maintain healthy fasting blood sugar levels. For people with prediabetes, managing blood sugar levels can help reverse the condition and prevent the development of diabetes.
People who have diabetes or prediabetes need to test their blood sugar levels regularly and record their results. They should talk with a doctor if they notice any changes or unusual symptoms.
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