Blood Sugar Levels Chart

Blood sugar is one of the essential elements that needs to go into the blood.  It is known best to the general public due to diabetes, but it is present in all of us, and is essential for survival.  Blood sugar technically refers to glucose, which is a material that is present in all animal blood.  This glucose is a source of energy for most of the body, so naturally if you are running low on blood sugar, you are probably going to experience shakiness, weakness, and you could lose energy and, in particularly bad scenarios, could result in comas, brain damage, or death.  High blood sugar levels is usually a less serious problems but, ultimately, could also kill you.  Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels) when compounded over a long period of time and caused by an inability of the body to absorb that blood sugar because of a lack of the chemical called insulin, is usually known as diabetes.  A number of things can cause diabetes, but we'll get to that in a bit.  Hypoglycemia is what low levels are referred to as.  Anyone who is being treated for diabetes runs the risk of over-correcting for the high levels of blood sugar, and causing hypoglycemia.  This is particularly dangerous, and can cause basic queasiness, uneasiness, and then in the worst cases, seizures or fainting spells resulting occasionally in death.  As such, keeping a health glucose level is important.

Persistent hyperglycemia resulting in diabetes is relatively common.  There are two typical types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2.  Type 1 is more likely to be genetically based, and is caused by an inability of the body to produce insulin. Insulin, as we said, is the chemical which helps process the blood sugar into energy for the cells.  This insulin is essential for the processing of glucose, so when the body is low on insulin, the blood sugar gets high.  Sugar in the blood is not where it should be; sugar in the blood is generally on the way to cells.  Type 2 diabetes isn't caused by a problem producing insulin, rather, the body produces it and then has trouble using it.  Usually, type 2 diabetes is caused by being overweight.  The better shape you're in, the better your body will be able to regulate the chemicals in it.  Type 1 also tends to strike at a younger age, while Type 2 comes at later ages as a result of genetic and lifestyle issues.  If you have high cholesterol and high blood pressure, you are more likely to have type 2.  This is one of the few afflictions that I've written about that doesn't seem to be directly linked to smoking.  Though high blood pressure is contributed to by smoking.  Don't smoke, let's just make that the rule of thumb. 

Now, at high blood sugar levels, the consequences in most cases are less serious.  For example, you probably aren't going to go into a coma by having high blood sugar, whereas the opposite is true of hypoglycemia.  That said, high blood sugar levels can have some pretty serious negative effects in the long term.  It will damage your cardiovascular system, may make you go blind, may cause nerve damage, may mess up the kidneys, and will likely cause heart problems.  These circulatory issues are likely going to be the peripheral thing that could kill you if you have diabetes, but the good news is that you can regulate it.  The way of doing this is by introducing insulin into the system artificially and monitoring blood sugar.  If you take the insulin and the blood sugar is too low, you'll need to eat something sugary.  We should note here that, for the love of God, talk to your doctor about this.  Diabetes is a serious condition that requires special treatment, and if you let it go, it will do horrible things to you.  Diabetes generally can be controlled and monitored, but you have to keep an eye on it.   Now, one of the things you'll notice about our first picture is that it is totally normal for you to have spikes in blood sugar after meals.  That's what eating does.  And they will generally rise throughout the day, and the body will ramp up the processing before bed, and will taper off through the night.  Eat something in the morning and it will shoot up again.  Now, our second chart is going to show you what the difference between health blood sugar and diabetic blood sugar is.  Notice how the normal blood sugar ramps up after the meal and then evens out without taking a serious dip?  Most bodies regulated blood sugar extremely well, and this leads to there being a relatively steady level of blood sugar throughout the day.  You'll notice the prediabetic goes up higher than it should, and then over corrects.  The insulin is still working here, it's just longer to take effect.  With the diabetic person, their blood sugar goes through the roof, and then their body takes a long time to readjust that blood sugar by slowly getting insulin into the system.  Which means it needs to be artificially regulated, and they will need to eat sugary foods if the insulin over corrects.

These charts are something you should talk with your doctor about if you have diabetes.  If you don't, it's just a matter of prevention.  First off, try and eat healthier sugars.  This means starches and fruits and vegetables rather than candy and sweet sports drinks or soft drinks or other stuff of that sort.  It means try and generally live healthier.  Type 2 is caused by the pancreases inability to really function properly, so if you want to avoid getting Type 2, keep your body in good shape.  Some of the time it's just bad genetic luck to get diabetes, but other times, it's an issue that probably has to with your weight.  If you are in good shape and have a BMI under 25, you'll be in much better shape in terms of getting diabetes.