The Importance of Frequently Checking Blood Glucose

Maintaining control over your blood glucose level is the surest way to help prevent complications from diabetes, such as kidney and eye damage, as well as cardiovascular complications. To keep your level in check, you must monitor your blood glucose for changes that could indicate needed adjustments to diet and medication or that could be signals of other health complications. Just how often you check your blood glucose level should be something you and your doctor work out, but here are some things you should understand about how blood glucose affects your health.

Reasons

• Knowing what your blood glucose level is will help you plan your meals and activities, as well as help determine the appropriate dosage of insulin and/or other medications you may take to help regulate your metabolism and your body's blood glucose control. Blood glucose or sugar is the main source of energy used by the body and is derived from consuming carbohydrates. The pancreas produces insulin to help keep blood glucose levels in a healthy range, but if the body does not produce enough insulin, you'll likely have to take synthetic insulin to make up the difference. If blood glucose levels exceed a healthy range, damage can occur in the nerves, eyes, kidneys and blood vessels.

Frequency

• You should monitor your blood glucose at least four times a day, according to the Cleveland Clinic, which recommends tests before each meal, at bedtime and/or two hours or so after eating. The clinic also suggests that testing before and after exercise to see how activity affects your blood glucose and to help avoid potential low blood sugar episodes that can accompany exercise. However, you should discuss with your doctor an appropriate testing schedule for you.

Alternatives

• If you have relatively consistent blood glucose readings, you may not have to measure your levels as frequently. Your doctor may recommend once a day or a schedule that allows for you to measure your blood glucose before breakfast and then later in the day. You also may be advised to monitor your blood glucose more often when you are ill.

Warning

• If you don't stay on top of your blood glucose, you run the risk of having your blood sugar spike or drop to dangerously low levels. Low blood sugar can result in a loss of consciousness or a seizure. High blood sugar can eventually lead to kidney dysfunction, nerve and eye damage and heart disease, such as unusual heart rhythms and arterial disease.

Considerations

• The other main reason you want to frequently check your blood glucose is to understand the triggers for spikes or drops in your levels. If certain eating habits or activities lead to changes, you'll learn how to avoid such problems or plan accordingly. Often, high blood sugar levels, for example, are caused by too much food and not enough medication, weight gain and even stress. By frequently monitoring your blood sugar levels you can see if a steady weight-loss plan is helping to bring your numbers into a healthy range more consistently.