For a person who does not have diabetes, blood glucose levels (BGLs) will generally range between 4.0 and 7.8mmols/L throughout the day. This is regardless of how and what they eat, what exercise they do, or what stress they may be under.
If you are living with diabetes your body will have trouble keeping your BGLs within the “normal” range.
Target levels for people with diabetes will vary from person to person. It will depend on your age, how long you have lived with diabetes, any other medical issues you may have, and on the treatment that you are on to manage your diabetes.
Most people with type 1 diabetes are recommended to aim for fasting BGLs of 4-6mmol/L, before meals 4-7mmol/L and 2-3 hours after food 4-8mmol/L.
Most people with type 2 diabetes are recommended to aim for fasting BGLs of 4-7mmol/L, before meals 4-8mmol/L and 2-3 hours after food 5-10mmol/L.
In gestational diabetes much lower targets are recommended. This is because the foetus is very sensitive to glucose. If you have GDM you will, most likely, be advised to aim for fasting BGLs below 5mmol/L, 1 hour after meals less than 7.5mmol/L and/or 2 hours after meals less than 6.7mmol/L.
Despite your best efforts, you will find that your levels however, are frequently outside these target ranges. This is to be expected, as there are lots of reasons why your levels may go up or down. These include:
- The type and amount of food you ate, the time you had the food and how quickly you ate it
- Any planned and unplanned physical activity
- Stress, illness and pain
- Diabetes medicines you have taken
- Some other medications, such as steroids
- Hormonal changes
- Blood glucose monitoring technique or timing
It is normal for your BGLs to change throughout the day and night. The most important part of monitoring your glucose levels is to identify hypoglycaemia (low BGLs or hypo for short) and hyperglycaemia (high BGLs). High BGLs can increase your risk of long-term complications.
Discuss your readings with your health professional, so they can help you manage diabetes.