Monitoring your blood sugar levels is one the best ways you can care for your health and body.
Blood levels or blood glucose refers to the amount of sugar or glucose present in your blood.
It is normally measured in millimoles per liter or mmol/l.
It is important that you control and monitor your blood levels to avoid various health conditions and complications, especially if you have diabetes to begin with.
Glucose in your blood and in your body The glucose in your blood and body comes for the food you eat, specifically from the carbohydrate-rich foods that you eat (i.
e potatoes, bread, rice).
It is the main energy source of your body and it is processed by your cells with the help or a hormone called insulin.
Insulin is manufactured in your pancreas and it is released into your blood when your blood glucose level rises.
Blood glucose levels are normally at their highest right after you eat.
At the same time that your blood sugar rises, more insulin is also released into your blood to prevent your glucose level from shooting too high.
Too high blood glucose levels can damage your blood vessels and cause eye, kidney, and nerve disease.
Testing your blood levels There are several types of tests you can take to know and monitor your blood sugar level.
One of the most common is the fasting blood sugar test or FBS.
This test measures blood sugar level after you have fasted for no less than eight hours.
FBS is usually the first tests conducted to determine if a patient has diabetes or not.
A second type of blood test is the 2-hour postprandial blood sugar test which measures blood sugar two hours after your last meal.
Alternatively, there is the random blood test or RBS that measures blood sugar at different times of the day and regardless of the time of your last meal.
The RBS test is also often called the casual blood glucose test.
Finally, there is the oral glucose tolerance test which is usually used to diagnose both prediabetes and diabetes.
This test, which involves a series of blood sugar measurements taken after the patient's drinks a sweet beverage that is rich in glucose, is normally conducted among for pregnant women.
Blood sugar levels and diabetes The subject of blood glucose levels take a rather different turn when put in the context of diabetes.
Among people without diabetes, normal blood glucose levels hover between 4 to 8 mmol/l and gets slightly higher up to 10 mmol/l after mealtimes.
In diabetics, on the other hand, blood glucose levels usually moves outside this range, especially if left untreated.
A good amount of control and constant monitoring is necessary to keep a diabetic's blood sugar level at a normal level.
Diabetics also often require more frequent blood glucose tests than non-diabetics.
The type and frequency of blood glucose tests required by diabetics depends on what kind of diabetes they have.
In general, people with type 1 diabetes who take insulin should monitor their blood glucose levels every day before meal times.
Testing in the morning is also advisable to help them determine the amount of insulin they need overnight.
The same testing schedule is also recommended for type 2 diabetics who use insulin.
On the other hand, type 2 diabetics who take oral treatments can measure their blood glucose levels less frequently -usually once or twice a week before or after a meal.
These schedules, however, are not very strict.
Diabetics are advised to test their blood whenever they feel sick or ill.
This is because a sudden change in their blood sugar needs to be treated accordingly; otherwise it can result to fatal complications.