Health & Fitness
Tips For Monitoring Your Blood Sugar At Home
Diabetes is a serious condition that can lead to life-threatening complications. It’s important to monitor your blood sugar levels, but it’s also easy to forget how often you should do this. Here are some tips for monitoring your glucose levels at home:
Self-monitoring can help you adjust your care plan and treatment
When self-monitoring is done correctly with a diabetes monitor app, it may help you learn about how your blood sugar responds to food, exercise and other activities. For example, suppose you find that eating a snack with carbohydrates raises your blood sugar level quickly, and high levels continue for several hours afterward. In that case, you might need to modify what or when you eat in order to manage your diabetes better.
As per diabetic professionals like Tandem Diabetes, “Mobile and cloud-based applications are designed to help you better manage your diabetes.”
Check before meals, before physical activity and at bedtime
You should check your blood sugar levels before meals, before physical activity and at bedtime. You should also check your blood sugar levels after exercise if you have low or high blood sugar symptoms (e.g., vision changes). If you are ill and experiencing any symptoms, such as vomiting or diarrhea, it is essential to check your glucose level twice a day until the symptoms resolve.
Wash your hands before testing
- Wash your hands with soap and water.
- Use a hand sanitizer if you don’t have access to soap and water.
- Dry your hands with a clean towel or paper towel.
In order to avoid contamination, make sure you are not touching anything that is contaminated when placing the test strip in the monitor or testing your blood glucose levels.
Use a blood sugar meter to monitor your levels
To use a blood sugar meter, you need to prick your finger with the lancet, which is a small needle. You then put a drop of blood on the test strip and insert it into the glucose meter. The meter will then display your current level and a trend graph showing how it has changed over time.
One finger test is enough to check your blood sugar level
When it comes to monitoring your blood sugar, you should always use the same finger. Don’t switch between different fingers or toes during each test. One of the most important factors in determining accurate results is to only test on one body part at a time.
The best time to check your blood sugar is right after waking up and before consuming any food or drink. This way, you can know where you are starting from on a daily basis and make adjustments accordingly.
Take charge of your health by checking your glucose levels often
Self-monitoring is an integral part of managing diabetes, and it can help you keep your blood glucose levels in a healthy range.
A blood glucose meter allows you to measure your blood sugar level at home. It’s easy to use and gives results quickly, so you know if adjustments are needed for the next meal or activity. For example, you should check before meals, before physical activity and at bedtime if you take insulin or certain oral medications for diabetes (such as metformin).
With a little practice and some consistency, you can take control of your health by monitoring your glucose levels. The best part is that it’s easy to do on your own! Just remember these tips when testing and record everything in a logbook so that you can track any trends or changes over time.
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