Measuring Blood Glucose Level
Measuring Blood Sugar
To test your blood sugar level, collect your blood glucose meter, a test strip and Lancing Device.
You’ll want to:
Wash and dry your hands—using warm water may help the blood flow.
Turn on the meter and prepare a test strip as outlined in your owner’s booklet.
Choose your spot—don’t check from the same finger all the time.
Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to prepare the lancing device and get a drop of blood from the side of your fingertip or other approved site.
Check your blood sugar by touching and holding the test strip opening to the drop until it has absorbed enough blood to begin the test.
View your test result and take the proper steps if your blood sugar is too high or low, based on your doctor’s recommendations.
Discard the used lancet properly.
Record the results in a logbook, hold them in the meter’s memory or download to a computer so you can review and analyze them later.
Your healthcare team will determine when you should test your patience blood sugar based on their current health, age and level of activity, as well as the time of day and other factors. They may suggest that you test their blood sugar at any of the following times:
Before each meal
1 or 2 hours after a meal
Before a bedtime snack
In the middle of the night
Before physical activity, to see if you need a snack
During and after physical activity
Normal Fasting Blood Sugar A normal fasting blood sugar (which is also the blood sugar a normal person will see right before a meal) is:
83 mg/dl (4.6 mmol/L) or less.
Many normal people have fasting blood sugars in the mid and high 70 mg/dl (3.9 mmol/L) range.
Though most doctors will tell you any fasting blood sugar under 100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/L) is “normal”, there are several studies that suggest that testing with a fasting blood sugar in the mid 90 mg/dl (5 mmol/L) range often predicts diabetes that is diagnosed a decade later.
Post-Meal Blood Sugar (Postprandial)
Independent of what they eat, the blood sugar of a truly normal person is:
Under 120 mg/dl (6.6 mmol/L) one or two hours after a meal.
Most normal people are under 100 mg/dl (5.5 mmol/L) two hours after eating.
