Is My Blood Sugar Normal?

There's a lot of interest in blood sugar these days, both in people with and without diabetes.

Monitoring blood sugar levels has always been a central part of diabetes management. Today, even people without diabetes are measuring their blood sugar as a way to monitor their metabolic health. But what’s considered a desirable blood sugar level can vary from one person to another. Your own blood sugar goals should be determined in consultation with your doctor, who will consider many factors, including your age, diabetes status, and the presence of any additional health conditions.

There’s more than one way to measure blood sugar levels. Different tests and biomarkers will speak to different aspects of your metabolic health.

• A glucose meter: This is a handheld device that measures your current blood sugar level. This device requires a drop of blood, which you will draw by pricking yourself with a lancet.
• A continuous glucose monitor (CGM): This is a wearable device that monitors blood sugar levels around the clock, updating a smartphone app or dedicated receiver with new measurements as often as every 60 seconds. A CGM also records your blood sugar data and makes it easy to understand your short- and long-term glucose management trends.

In the United States, glucose meters and CGMs both report these glucose measurements in units of mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter). In other countries, mmol/L (millimoles per liter) may be more common.

If you’re trying to interpret your own blood sugar results with home testing, it may be smart to take those results with a grain of salt. Aimée José, RN, CDCES, a diabetes coach based in the San Diego area, says that at-home glucose monitoring technology isn’t as accurate as a traditional blood draw at the lab. If you’re concerned about your own blood sugar results, speak to your healthcare provider.

Fasting Blood Sugar Levels

A fasting blood sugar measurement helps reveal your baseline blood sugar levels, without the influence of anything you’ve had to eat or drink recently. The easiest way to do a fasting blood sugar test is to take your measurement in the morning, before you’ve eaten anything for breakfast.

After Eating/Random Blood Sugar Levels

As soon as you eat food, especially food that contains carbohydrates, your blood sugar concentration shoots up as your body converts the energy into glucose for your cells to use. To some extent, this blood sugar rise is healthy and normal, though people with diabetes generally experience increases that are both larger and longer-lasting.

A1C Testing

An A1C test, also known as a hemoglobin A1C or HbA1C test, estimates your average blood sugar levels over the previous three months. This measurement offers you and your clinician the best overall look at your long-term blood sugar control.

Time in Range Measurements

If your blood sugar levels are in the prediabetic range, it can be difficult to know what it means for your long-term health.

“Prediabetes is the warning sign,” says Ben Tzeel, RD, CDCES, founder of Your Diabetes Insider. “It means your body is struggling to produce enough insulin and manage blood glucose levels on its own. It’s your opportunity to jump in and change the path you’re on, if possible.”

If you have diabetes, your healthcare provider has probably already given you a blood sugar measurement — such as fasting blood sugar, A1C, or time in range — to target. Using diet, exercise, and medication to meet this target will help preserve your long-term health and reduce the risk of complications like cardiovascular disease, neuropathy, vision loss, and kidney disease.

In some special cases, the recommended targets are even higher:

• Children with diabetes may have higher glycemic targets, in recognition of how uniquely difficult it can be to manage the blood sugar of youngsters.
• Older adults may have higher glycemic targets, due to hypoglycemia unawareness, other health conditions, and shorter life expectancy, among other factors.

It seems natural to wonder if it makes sense to set stricter blood sugar targets, for yourself or for a loved one, to lower the risk of complications as much as possible. Experts say, however, that it’s not usually possible to achieve perfectly normal blood sugar numbers if you have type 1 or 2 diabetes, and health authorities do not consider it realistic for the vast majority of patients.

“It isn’t fair, reasonable, or logical to expect people with diabetes to achieve perfect blood sugar targets every day,” José says. “There are too many variables beyond our control — particularly with type 1 diabetes — that we can only react to.”

These success stories are rare and shouldn’t be the model for most people with diabetes. “There is a big difference between what we hope people with diabetes can strive for in blood sugar management versus what is realistic to expect,” says Tzeel. But by collaborating with your healthcare team, you can settle on glucose management targets that are appropriate for you and will help you reduce the long-term risks of chronic high blood sugar.

• There are several different ways to measure blood sugar levels, and doctors will often rely on more than one measurement to assess metabolic health and diagnose diabetes.
• Most people without diabetes or prediabetes probably don’t need to monitor their blood sugar levels frequently.
• While “normal” blood sugar levels may seem like an obvious goal for people with diabetes, they are not necessarily an appropriate target for everyone.
• Healthy lifestyle changes like a more wholesome diet, increased physical activity, and better sleep habits can help lower your blood sugar in a safe and natural way.