What are ideal blood sugar levels?
Deciding what ideal blood sugar levels are depends on the person and the age because we are all so different, but we have overall guidelines for ideal averages for a point of reference.
The first place to start is by seeing your doctor and getting an A1C test. This will help you know where you're at with your health concerning blood sugar.
The A1C test is a blood sugar test that will show you and your doctor the direction you need to go from that point on. You might be nondiabetic, prediabetic or all out diabetic. This test should be done early in life for those with hereditary diabetes in the family. Every adult should be tested before they hit midlife though.
The American Diabetes Association has determined that nondiabetic people will have an A1C lower than 5.7. A prediabetic person will be between 5.7 and 6.5. A diabetic person will be 6.5 and above.
Normal 5.6-
Prediabetic 5.7-6.4
Diabetic 6.5+
The A1C test is an overall view of where you are health wise. It's very different than the blood glucose count you get from a CGM. A CGM is a temporary view of what your levels are doing at that moment. These temporary numbers eventually add up to make up your overall health.
Our bodies rely on even amounts of sugar in the bloodstream used for energy. Everything we eat breaks down to be used for either energy or cell replacement. Carbohydrates are used for energy. Protein and fat can also be used for energy if carbs aren't available, but most of the time carbs are the fastest source for energy. The pancreas determines how much sugar is in the blood and it counteracts excessive amounts by releasing insulin. Insulin controls and regulates sugar in the blood.
For a person without diabetes of average age, the ideal blood sugar levels are:
Fasting -- 99 or below.
Full -- 140 or below
You can better understand how your body responds to food by learning the chart that analyses the different glucose levels when you are fasting, right after eating and two to three hours after eating. These three measurements are all going to be very different from each other. Most A1C tests require a fasting blood sugar. This tells the overall condition of how you are processing glucose over time. Ideal blood sugar levels can be maintained if you can monitor them and that's why taking charge of your health before you become diabetic is the best way to add many quality years to your life.
Once you eat, you should normally expect a big spike in blood sugar levels within just a few minutes. The levels of blood sugar after two or three hours tells you how your body has processed glucose and how the pancreas has responded. It can also tell you if you have stomach absorption problems which is rare, but can still influence how quickly food gets absorbed.
The old way of testing blood glucose levels still works very well and will give immediate results. It just requires finger pokes. Most people now prefer the CGM so they can have constant data without poking their fingers constantly.
Continuous Glucose Monitors are the best
With a CGM, we can monitor blood levels constantly all through the day and even throughout the night. Most CGMs are constantly submitting data to a phone or other device while we sleep.
I have learned that I need to keep my phone fairly close to the device on my arm. If I leave my phone in a room on the opposite end of the house, then after about 30 minutes or so, the phone will start sounding the alarm that it has lost contact with the device. The device continues to record data no matter where the phone is and once the two are reunited, the device transmits the data and the phone is able to catch up on what it missed.
Once again, my experience is with the Freestyle Libre 3. The Dexcom is quite similar though in this regard. I believe the out of range for the Dexcom 7 is around 20 feet away and if it's away longer than 20 minutes, the alarm will sound indicating a lost signal.
I believe the data catches back up once the device and phone are reunited. The Dexcom 7 updates every 5 minutes and sends data to the phone. The Freestyle updates every minute and sends data to the phone.
It's also worth mentioning that if for some reason, your bluetooth disconnects, you will get the lost signal alarm as well. Some devices will let you know the bluetooth has disconnected. That's helpful instead of trying to figure out why the device stopped communicating with your phone and causing you to panic momentarily.