Question to my dietitian: Do some people function well staying at or below 100mg/dL throughout the day? Is this possible or ideal?
The Reply: Average - So per the current research in people without diabetes, we find that optimal health is associated with an average (mean or median) glucose of 105 or less. That being said, this is an average. We don't expect glucose to be a flat line (and as I like to joke, no where in health care do we like to see a flat line! ). We will see peaks and valleys, and this is where our Standard Deviation scores come in, which is that mathematical representation of the swings in our blood sugars. We aim for 14 or less.
The Reply: Average - So per the current research in people without diabetes, we find that optimal health is associated with an average (mean or median) glucose of 105 or less. That being said, this is an average. We don't expect glucose to be a flat line (and as I like to joke, no where in health care do we like to see a flat line! ). We will see peaks and valleys, and this is where our Standard Deviation scores come in, which is that mathematical representation of the swings in our blood sugars. We aim for 14 or less.
Questions: Upon waking, should there be a natural rise or fall of glucose levels?
1. Fasting glucose - We are generally looking for a fasting value between 70-90 mg/dL after 8 hours without food, and an average value overnight of <105 mg/dL. Regarding fasting values, what we want to focus most on is trends in your fasting glucose. For example, if your fasting values are a couple of points higher on one day than they were the previous day, we can dive into the “why” behind this change. After a week or so of data you will start to get a good idea of what your normal is.
AM Elevation or Fall - I would say most people will see a slight rise in their glucose values upon waking. Some people experience a more pronounced elevation in their blood sugars in the early morning hours (typically known as the Dawn Phenomenon). There are some tactics that we can incorporate to minimize this elevation, however, it is hormonally driven (cortisol and other catecholamines are released between 4-8am to help wake us up!). I'm not seeing anything of concern on your graph so far!
This comment below was within my first 3 days of using the CGM. The averages have started to decline, however I thought the info was helpful. I have now programmed my fasting window from 7pm to 7am for this week and will experiment with how that affects my Sleep Average and Morning Average.
Thanks for following along! Of course, none of this is medical advice, just my general experiments with my NutriSense CGM and complimentary dietitian. If you have any thoughts or questions however about the app or the process, don't hesitate to ask. Enjoy the day and be well!
1. Fasting glucose - We are generally looking for a fasting value between 70-90 mg/dL after 8 hours without food, and an average value overnight of <105 mg/dL. Regarding fasting values, what we want to focus most on is trends in your fasting glucose. For example, if your fasting values are a couple of points higher on one day than they were the previous day, we can dive into the “why” behind this change. After a week or so of data you will start to get a good idea of what your normal is.
AM Elevation or Fall - I would say most people will see a slight rise in their glucose values upon waking. Some people experience a more pronounced elevation in their blood sugars in the early morning hours (typically known as the Dawn Phenomenon). There are some tactics that we can incorporate to minimize this elevation, however, it is hormonally driven (cortisol and other catecholamines are released between 4-8am to help wake us up!). I'm not seeing anything of concern on your graph so far!
This comment below was within my first 3 days of using the CGM. The averages have started to decline, however I thought the info was helpful. I have now programmed my fasting window from 7pm to 7am for this week and will experiment with how that affects my Sleep Average and Morning Average.
- Your values are a little on the high side. Your morning average is running at 96 mg/dL, and overnight average is 86 mg/dL (which is right where we like to see it!). Once again, we want to look at longer term trends, so we'll keep watching this and make adjustments as needed down the road. You can go to Analytics> Stats> Morning Average to see your trends. ALSO, if you haven't already, you can ensure this metric is accurate by setting your Fasting Window. You can find this by going to Menu > Settings > System > Fasting Window and selecting the time frame when you typically don't eat.
Thanks for following along! Of course, none of this is medical advice, just my general experiments with my NutriSense CGM and complimentary dietitian. If you have any thoughts or questions however about the app or the process, don't hesitate to ask. Enjoy the day and be well!
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