AID systems will automatically adjust your basal insulin doses throughout the night to help keep your glucose levels stable. For some people, a small snack before bed (with a small dose of insulin, if appropriate) can help stabilize glucose levels throughout the night and avoid an early morning high.
How High Blood Sugar Impacts Sleep. The symptoms you may experience with high blood sugar at night could make it difficult for you to sleep, including falling and staying asleep. Depending on when you eat prior to bedtime, your digestive system may wake you up at odd hours.
Target blood sugar levels differ for everyone, but generally speaking: if you monitor yourself at home – a normal target is 4-7mmol/l before eating and under 8.5-9mmol/l two hours after a meal. if you're tested every few months – a normal target is below 48mmol/mol (or 6.5% on the older measurement scale)
People with diabetes should eat dinner between 8 and 9 pm. Eating close to bedtime or late at night must be avoided.
Having an active day or exercising close to bedtime with diabetes can lower glucose and cause hypoglycemic during sleep or overnight. Other factors that can put you at risk for nighttime hypoglycemia are too much basal (background) insulin or consuming alcohol in the evening.
If you have diabetes, late-night snacks aren't necessarily off-limits — but it's important to make healthy choices. Late-night snacks add extra calories, which can lead to weight gain.
What Happens to Blood Sugar While You Sleep? It's tied to whether the hormone insulin, which removes glucose from the blood, is working the way it's supposed to. Blood sugar levels surge while you're sleeping, usually around 4 to 8 a.m. for someone with a normal sleep schedule. (It's called the dawn effect.)
If you have type 2 diabetes breakfast cereals made with wholegrains can help to manage blood glucose levels, they release glucose more slowly as they are low GI. Weetabix, Oatibix and Shredded Wheat can make for good choices.
Avoid Dangerous Blood Sugar if You Have Diabetes. Skipping a meal is typically no big deal. But if you're a person with diabetes, skipping meals or a lack of meal structure could result in dangerously low or high blood sugar levels.
For most people with diabetes, mealtimes should space out through the day like this: Have breakfast within an hour and half of waking up. Eat a meal every 4 to 5 hours after that.
Less than 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L ) is considered healthy. 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L ) is diagnosed as prediabetes. 126 mg/dL (7 mmol/L ) or higher on two separate tests is diagnosed as diabetes.
What should your blood sugar be when you wake up? Whenever possible, aim to keep your glucose levels in range between 70 and 130 mg/dL in the morning before you eat breakfast, and between 70 and 180 mg/dL at other times.
Drinking plenty of water helps your kidneys flush out excess sugar. One study found that people who drink more water lower their risk for developing high blood sugar levels. And remember, water is the best. Sugary drinks elevate blood sugar by raising it even more.
Pomegranate juice is said to help lower blood sugar levels within 15 minutes of drinking it. A study examined the effects one drink of the juice could have on a diabetic and found it changed the levels of their blood sugar - in a good way.
Bananas have a low GI score, and this the fruit to be an appropriate choice for diabetics. Dietitian Upasana Sharma, Head Nutritionist at Max Hospital says, "Banana contains sugar and carbs. But it is rich in fibre and has a low glycemic index. Diabetics can eat banana, but in moderation."
Lemon water may not directly impact your blood sugar levels and cause it to come down, but it can surely help prevent untimely spikes. The easy to make beverage is very low in carbohydrates and calories, and keeps you hydrated, which is very essential for diabetics to ensure.
If you don't eat, your blood sugar levels are lower and medication may drop them even more, which can lead to hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia can cause you to feel shaky, pass out, or even go into a coma.
The dawn phenomenon is an early-morning rise in blood sugar, also called blood glucose, in people with diabetes. The dawn phenomenon leads to high levels of blood sugar, a condition called hyperglycemia. It usually happens between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.
The dawn phenomenon
In the early hours of the morning, hormones, including cortisol and growth hormone, signal the liver to boost the production of glucose, which provides energy that helps you wake up. This triggers beta cells in the pancreas to release insulin in order to keep blood glucose levels in check.
The low carbohydrate and high protein composition of plain, low-fat, or nonfat Greek yogurts make it a great choice as a bedtime snack for diabetics.