Post Time: 2025-07-18
Maintaining a healthy blood sugar range is crucial for overall well-being. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends that fasting blood glucose levels should be below 100 mg/dL, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest a target of less than 95 mg/dL. For those with diabetes or prediabetes, it's essential to work closely with their healthcare provider to determine their individualized targets.
When monitoring your fasting blood sugar levels, it's not just about achieving a specific number; it's also about understanding the fluctuations that can occur throughout the day. Fluctuations in blood sugar are often caused by diet and lifestyle factors such as what you eat, when you eat, physical activity level, stress levels, sleep quality, and even medications.
Understanding Blood Sugar Spikes: Causes and Consequences
Blood sugar spikes refer to periods where your fasting blood glucose levels exceed 140 mg/dL. These spikes can be triggered by various factors including overeating or consuming high-sugar foods. Regular monitoring of blood sugar levels can help you identify patterns, allowing you to make adjustments as needed.
When managing diabetes or prediabetes, it's crucial to develop strategies that promote stable fasting glucose levels throughout the day. A well-balanced diet plays a significant role in this process, particularly incorporating fiber-rich foods which can slow down the digestion and absorption of sugar from food sources.
How Diet Impacts Your Blood Sugar Range
Diets high in refined sugars or saturated fats may lead to elevated blood sugar spikes. On the other hand, diets rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins provide sustained energy while supporting healthy weight management.
Regular physical activity is not only essential for maintaining a healthy body mass index (BMI) but also plays an important role in improving insulin sensitivity. Improved insulin sensitivity means that your cells are more responsive to glucose from the food you eat.
The Role of Exercise and Stress on Blood Sugar Levels
Physical stress can temporarily elevate blood sugar levels, which is why monitoring these levels after intense exercise sessions or periods of significant physical exertion is advisable. Understanding how specific diets may contribute towards lowering those numbers helps patients make lifestyle choices that are tailored to their needs and condition.
While fluctuations in fasting glucose level could occur due to factors outside an individual's control such as menstrual cycle, certain medications, or some other medical conditions; regular practice and education can help reduce blood sugar imbalances significantly over time.
Explore the endocrine system with the Amoeba Sisters! This video briefly discusses endocrine vs exocrine before showing major endocrine glands and discussing examples of hormones released by each gland. Video also provides an example of a condition [hypothyroidism] where an endocrine gland is not functioning as it should. ----------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 Intro 0:30 Intro to Endocrine System 1:22 Endocrine vs Exocrine 2:37 Hormones Can Be Made of Different Biomolecules 2:53 Hormones Bind to Target Cells 3:09 Tour of Glands with Hormone Examples 7:47 Nervous System Uses Neurotransmitters 8:09 Example of Endocrine Gland Not Functioning Correctly ----------------- Factual References: Betts, J. Gordon, et al. “17.1 an Overview of the Endocrine System - Anatomy and Physiology 2e | OpenStax.” Openstax.org, 20 Apr. 2022, openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/17-1-an-overview-of-the-endocrine-system. Accessed 15 Sept. 2022. Clark, Mary Ann, et al. “Biology 2e.” Openstax.org, OpenStax, 28 Mar. 2018, openstax.org/books/biology-2e/pages/37-1-types-of-hormones. Urry, Lisa A, et al. Campbell Biology. 11th ed., New York, Ny, Pearson Education, Inc, 2017. ------------------ Further Reading: Learn more about classes of hormones here: So, if you couldn't tell, we're pretty fascinated by the changes the thyroid goes through as a person ages. What impact might that have regarding signs blood sugar is high immune function? These are some recommended readings to learn more. Learn more about endocrine disorders: blood sugar is 83 ----------------------------------------------- The Amoeba Sisters videos demystify science with humor and relevance. The videos center on Pinky's certification and experience in teaching biology at the high school level. Amoeba Sisters videos only cover concepts that Pinky is certified to teach, and they focus on her specialty: secondary life science. Learn more about our videos here: Support Us? Our Resources and Handouts: Biology Video Playlist: GIFs: Comics: Unlectured Series: Connect with us! Website: Twitter: Facebook: Tumblr: Pinterest: Webtoon: Instagram: TikTok: Visit our Redbubble store at TIPS FOR VIEWING EDU YOUTUBE VIDEOS: Want to learn tips for viewing edu YouTube videos including changing the speed, language, viewing the transcript, etc? MUSIC: Our intro music designed and performed by Jeremiah Cheshire. End music in this video is listed free to use/no attribution required from the YouTube audio library. COMMUNITY: We take pride in our AWESOME community, and we welcome feedback and discussion. However, please remember that this is an education channel. See YouTube's community guidelines and how YouTube handles comments that are reported by the community. We also reserve the right to remove comments. TRANSLATIONS: Spanish Subtitles: Jenny Urbina Hindi Subtitles: Alisha Aggarwal We gladly accept subtitle translations from our community. Learn more here: We want to thank our amazing community for the eggs blood sugar generosity of their time in continuing to create translated subtitles. We also have videos dubbed in Spanish and Portuguese using an artificial voice via to increase accessibility. See our Amoeba Sisters en Español channel and Amoeba Sisters em Português