How To Find Out if Your Blood Sugar Level Is Normal

Normal blood sugar levels are different for each person.  Even with that, there are guidelines with the range of normal blood sugar levels.  If you are outside of these guidelines, whether you’re under or over, your health could be at risk.  Blood sugar, also known as glucose, is used as energy for your body. 
The energy comes from food that contains carbohydrates.  Your pancreas is responsible for producing insulin in your body.  If there’s not enough insulin, the pancreas has to work overtime to make it happen.  Eventually, the pancreas gets tired and can’t produce as much insulin as needed.  This is what triggers diabetes to set in.

When you check your blood sugar level, it should register between 70 – 120 mg/dl.  Of course, when you consume food, your blood sugar levels may tilt in the specified range.  This depends on what you eat and when you eat it.  You have to be careful when you do eat, because you could also end up eating foods that can skyrocket your blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) or decrease you blood sugar level (hypoglycemia) under the minimum range. 

If this happens, you may have to take additional insulin for hyperglycemia.  For hypoglycemia, it’s just as serious, if not more.  If you start to feel tired, irritable, hungry or incoherent, these are signs that your blood sugar level could be dropping to a dangerous rate.  If it’s not detected and corrected in time, it can result in a diabetic coma.

You can check your blood sugar level with a blood test.  This will let you know whether or not you are in the guidelines normal blood sugar levels.  It will also let you know if you’re at risk of having diabetes.  There are several tests that you can take to find out what’s going on.

When checking for diabetes and normal blood glucose levels, you will be given a test called the fasting glucose level test.  You have to fast or abstain from food and drink for at least eight hours prior to taking the test.  The normal blood sugar level for this test is 70 – 99 mg/dl.  In addition to this test, there is another one called the postprandial blood sugar test. 

This test is conducted at least two hours after you have eaten.  The normal blood sugar level for this test is 70 – 120 mg/dl.  You can also do your own testing for normal blood sugar level, which should fall between 70 – 120 mg/dl.  If you find that the range is outside of what’s specified, you may have to make some lifestyle changes, such as cutting out certain foods and exercise more. 

Another test that you can take to check your blood sugar level is called OGTT or the oral glucose tolerance test.  This test is used to check for diabetes or if you’re pregnant, gestational diabetes. Prior to testing you must fast or abstain from food or drink for eight hours.

This is so the test will be effective and get accurate results.  You have to drink a liquid filled with glucose.  Then, you’ll have blood drawn at different times to determine how the sugar in your body metabolizes.  If your results come back abnormal in the high range, that could indicate that you have diabetes. 

Whether you get that diagnosis or not, it’s very important that you check your blood sugar levels to make sure they stay in the normal range.  Even if you don’t have diabetes, it can surface at any given time.  If you need more information regarding normal blood sugar levels, contact your physician for further medical assessments.