How often should blood sugar be tested?

Normally, young people rarely have abnormal blood sugar levels, so there is generally no need to monitor their blood sugar. However, some groups of people need to pay attention, such as pregnant women, obese people, and older people. They all need to monitor their blood sugar levels regularly to avoid long-term high blood sugar levels that harm their health. If blood sugar is found to be high, it can be controlled in time. So how often should blood sugar be measured?

How often should blood sugar be tested?

1. How often should a normal person measure blood sugar?

1.1 Non-drug treatment:

Twice a day, choose different time periods for monitoring, such as fasting blood sugar + one 2-hour post-meal blood sugar, 1 day a week.

1.2. Patients taking oral hypoglycemic drugs:

2~3 times/day, choose different time periods for monitoring, such as fasting + 2 hours after one or two meals, fasting + 2 hours after one meal + blood sugar before bed, 1~2 days a week.

1.3. Patients receiving insulin therapy:

5~7 times/day (5-point method or 7-point method of blood glucose profile throughout the day), 1~2 days a week. Monitor blood sugar at 3 a.m. at least once a month to confirm there is no hypoglycemia.

1.4. Blood glucose testing frequency should be increased in special circumstances:

When suffering from other diseases, before and after surgery, and when traveling.

Blood glucose levels are often >10mmol/L.

When diabetes first occurs or treatment regimen changes.

Before, during, and after exercise, especially when starting a new program.

If you feel unwell, especially if you have palpitations, trembling hands, cold sweats, etc., or if you suspect or have hypoglycemia.

2. Introduction to blood sugar

Blood sugar (GLU): Blood sugar clinically refers to the glucose in the blood. IFG and IGT are the intermediate transition stages between normal people and diabetic patients. Such people are the high-risk group and reserve force for diabetes and should be taken seriously and intervened early.

A 2-hour post-meal blood sugar test is actually a simplified glucose tolerance test. Compared with oral glucose test, this method requires less blood draw, is simple and easy to perform, and is easily accepted by patients.

3. Normal blood sugar levels

3.1. Normal blood sugar level after meal

1 hour after meal: blood sugar 6.7-9.4 mmol/L. The maximum value does not exceed 11.1mmol/L (200mg/dl).

2 hours after meal: blood sugar ≤7.8 mmol/L.

3 hours after meal: Returns to normal after the third hour, and each urine sugar is negative.

3.2. Normal blood sugar levels in pregnant women

3.2.1. The fasting blood sugar level for pregnant women should not exceed 5.1mmol/L.

3.2.2. One hour after meal for pregnant women: Blood sugar level one hour after meal is generally used to detect diabetes in pregnant women. Authoritative data show that the normal blood sugar level for pregnant women should not exceed 10.0mmol/L one hour after meal.

Blood glucose testing method

According to the changing pattern of human blood sugar, the blood sugar value is lowest at 3:00 in the morning (generally should not be lower than 3.8mmol/L), and then the blood sugar gradually increases. For people with normal insulin secretion, blood sugar levels can be controlled within the normal range. However, since diabetic patients have low insulin levels, their blood sugar is significantly affected by insulin resistance hormones, and their blood sugar levels will gradually rise.

First, the blood glucose meter must be used with test strips of the same brand and cannot be mixed. Because some blood glucose test strips are different from batch to batch, you need to enter the barcode number of the new test strip into the instrument before changing it, otherwise it will affect the results.

Second, disinfect with alcohol before testing, and then draw blood after the alcohol is completely dry to prevent alcohol from mixing into the blood.