Be Inspired to Get Into the Desired Blood Glucose Range

Discuss with your Physician Regarding the Optimal Glucose Levels for Your Body

Diabetes is growing to cause havoc on the human population with its debilitating side effects. Once we start recognizing the signs of diabetes, its recommended to consult a doctor. Before concluding the presence of this disease, the doctor suggests a range of tests including fasting sugar, post prandial test, HbA1c levels, and so. Each of these have a definite value that’s considered normal. But, what exactly is the ideal glucose range for a person without diabetes and what can be considered the ideal blood glucose range for someone suffering from the disease?
 
With diabetes, the blood sugar levels stay on the higher side which in due course, can damage the body’s health. Practically, glucose levels can be low, in the normal range, or high. Ample factors affect their numbers but the most critical of them include the type of foods consumed, their quantity,  the physical activity performed, and lifestyle followed.
 
Recommended Blood Glucose Levels
 
The universal recommendations for ideal blood glucose levels stand the same worldwide but these suggestions have a different degree of interpretation depending on the individual—this must be discussed clearly with your physician. The ranges given below are the ones set by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) but, again, the range for different individuals must be set and followed only after a thorough conversation with the doctor.
 
Also mentioned below are target blood glucose ranges for people without diabetes:
 

• In the case of normal individuals without diabetes, the ideal glucose range is between 4.0 and 5.9 mmol/L and the post-prandial range must be under 7.8 mmol/L.
• In case of individuals (both adults and kids) with Type 1 diabetes, the glucose range must be between 4 and 7 mmol/L before meals and between 5 and 9 mmol/L during post-prandial test (taken at least 1.30 hours after meals). Immediately after waking up, the glucose range must be 5-7 mmol/L for adults and 4-7 mmol/L for kids with Type 1 diabetes
• In case of individuals with Type 2 diabetes, the pre-prandial (before meals) range must be 4-7 mmol/L and under 8.5 mmol/L during the post-prandial test.

 
These details stay etched in every clinician’s mind, but the normal blood sugar ranges for a major population of healthy individuals include fasting sugar ranges between 4.0 and 5.4 mmol/L and a post-prandial value of 7.8 mmol/L two hours after meals consumption.
 
Blood Sugar Levels That Help Assessing Diabetes Through Various Tests
 
Generally, doctors recommend going for fasting sugar test, post-prandial and HbA1C tests to confirm the presence of diabetes. Some other tests in prevalence include the oral glucose tolerance test and random blood sugar test. Let’s look at the permissible glucose ranges in the common diagnostic tests that are not considered deleterious to life:
 
Fasting blood sugar test: A test taken without consuming anything for at least 8 hours from the previous night, showing ranges below 5.5 mmol/L and 100 mg/dl are generally considered normal. If the individual’s results stand between 5.5-6.9 mmol/l or 100-125 mg/dl, they can be categorized as pre-diabetics. Any value between 7.0 mmol/l or more and 126 mg/dl or more is classified as diabetes.
Post-prandial test (2 hours after meals): Any value below 7.8 mmol/l or below 140 mg/dl is considered an ideal glucose range. Someone falls into the pre-diabetes range if the blood glucose levels are from 7.8-11.0 mmol/l or 140-199 mg/dl. Any value above 11.1 mmol/l and more (or 200 mg/dl or more) is designated as diabetes.
 
HbA1C: This test gives you the average glucose level across a period of three month. A value below 42 mmol/mol (6%) is taken as normal. Someone is suggested to be in the prediabetes range if the numbers stand around 42-47 mmol/mol (6-6.4%) and categorized to suffer from diabetes if they have glucose numbers beyond 48 mmol/mol (6.5% or above).
 
Too High or Too Low Glucose Ranges
 
It is never good for blood glucose ranges to spike up or down drastically. Too high levels are called hyperglycemia and too low levels are called hypoglycemia. Individuals whose fasting glucose ranges go above 100 mg/dl might have hyperglycemia and it is advisable to get the help of your healthcare physician. Leaving too high sugar levels unattended for too long could lead to stroke, erectile dysfunction, heart attack, circulation-related problems, blindness, and immunity-related problems.
 
Hypoglycemia is when the glucose ranges fall below 70 mg/dl—this condition is extremely dangerous as it not only causes anxiety, confusion, sweating, and blurry vision, it could also result in coma, seizures, or death sometimes.
 
The Bottomline
 
Though we clearly differentiate between normal and dangerous glucose levels, we don’t have distinct differentiation regarding how our blood sugar levels stand during a 24-hour period. Individuals with normal glucose ranges might have high and low levels sometimes which might increase the risk of health problems. So, beyond maintaining admissible blood glucose levels, it is also our duty to prevent too many highs and lows concerning glucose numbers. We can do this by ensuring that there are no haphazard increases in post-meal glucose levels, maintain fasting levels as close as possible near the low end of desired ranges, and stabilize blood sugar levels by consuming a well-balanced meal that brings no surprise sugars to the table.
 
Maintain a log of the daily numbers and discuss with your doctor if there are any discrepancies. Take it up with a dietitian/nutritionist to bring concrete but healthy changes to everyday diet plan as food habits have a generous impact on the overall blood glucose levels. Besides this, exercise regularly, don’t indulge in cheat meals or binge eating, and follow an active lifestyle to stay healthy even with diabetes.