Everyone needs to maintain blood sugar levels in the normal range to prevent and reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease
You need to understand that glucose or blood sugar is sugar that is carried by the bloodstream to all cells in the body for energy supply.
Actually, what is the normal blood sugar limit for people in general? How do keep it stable?
Table of Contents
What is a normal blood sugar level?
The human body in such a way regulates blood sugar levels to keep it balanced. Understanding normal blood sugar levels can be key in dealing with diabetes.
Normal blood sugar levels can differ between healthy children, people with type 1 diabetes, to adults with type 2 diabetes. In addition, blood sugar levels will also adjust to health conditions and other factors.
According to The US National Institutes of Health, a normal fasting blood sugar level is between 70-99 mg/dL. In addition, adults aged 20 years or older will have blood sugar levels that are in the range of 100-180 mg/dL in a day.
Here are normal blood sugar limits for some conditions that you can refer to:
- Before meals: 70-130 mg/dL
- Blood sugar after fasting 8 hours: less than 100 mg/dL
- At bedtime: 100-140 mg/dL
- For adults, both men and women, there was no significant difference.
Both have the same normal blood sugar limit. However, there is a slight difference in the normal range of blood sugar for the elderly. So, this must be adjusted again to your age.
How to know normal blood sugar levels?
To find out blood sugar levels, you need to do a blood sugar check.
To be more accurate, before taking the test you must fast (no food or drink except water) for 8 hours. This procedure will adjust to the provisions of the medical team.
After that, you can find out how much blood sugar levels. If your fasting blood sugar level is around 100-125 mg/dL, you may have impaired glucose levels ( prediabetes ).
Meanwhile, a fasting blood sugar level of 126 mg/dL or more means that you have diabetes.
What can affect blood sugar levels?
Blood sugar levels can experience imbalance, namely blood sugar levels that are too low (hypoglycemia) and blood sugar levels that are too high (hyperglycemia).
1. Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia usually occurs in people who have diabetes or not.
The cause is when there is too much insulin in the blood. This may occur when you have not eaten for several hours, about 8 hours or more.
When blood sugar drops to normal, it means there isn’t enough glucose for energy.
Meanwhile, in people with diabetes, hypoglycemia can occur when you don’t eat enough, take too much insulin, or other diabetes medications.
2. Hyperglycemia
Just like before, hyperglycemia can also occur in people with diabetes or not.
There are many factors that cause an increase in normal blood sugar levels. Starting from medical conditions, the occurrence of infections, obesity, to lack of physical activity.
Whereas in type 2 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to maintain blood sugar balance.
In both conditions, glucose can build up in the bloodstream, causing hyperglycemia.
How to maintain normal blood sugar levels
To maintain normal blood sugar levels so as to avoid hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia, you need to keep blood sugar within normal limits. Some ways to do this are:
1. Exercising
Regular exercise will help keep blood sugar stable. Do exercise according to your body condition for at least 2.5 hours per week.
No need for strenuous exercise, just does light exercise such as jogging as long as it is routinely done every day.
2. Limit carbohydrate consumption
Keep your diet by limiting the consumption of carbohydrates. Excess carbohydrate intake can trigger an increase in the body’s blood sugar levels.
You can use other food alternatives such as sweet potatoes, pasta, and brown rice which have lower carbohydrate content.
3. Avoid stress
Stress can also trigger an increase in blood sugar. That’s why you should avoid stress and divert it with positive activities to keep blood sugar levels normal.
4. Eat on time
Skipping meals can also trigger blood sugar to be in an unstable condition. The ideal frequency of eating is 3 times a day plus 2 nutritious snacks between meals.
5. Do a blood sugar test
You are also advised to do regular blood sugar tests. The goal is none other than to monitor the body’s blood sugar levels, whether normal or not. That way, treatment steps can be taken immediately if an abnormality is found in blood sugar levels.