Your blood glucose level (BGL) is affected by exercise, physical activity, medications, stress, illness, alcohol and the food you eat.

Checking and recording your BGL regularly will help you to see the effect of your diet and lifestyle choices.

It will also help your doctor and your diabetes care team make decisions if changes to how your diabetes is managed, need to be made.

Why checking your Blood Glucose Level is important

Checking your BGL will help you develop the confidence needed to look after your diabetes.

Monitoring will also let you know immediately if your glucose level is too high (hyperglycaemia) or too low (hypoglycaemia).

It is important to know what your glucose level is so you can make decisions about sick day management, exercise or treating a low glucose level.

Knowing your glucose levels will also be a big help when in understanding whether you need to adjust your insulin or diabetes medication and when planning your meals.

Target range for your BGLs

Your doctor or diabetes educator will advise you of your target BGL and let you know how often you should be checking your level.

The number of checks you need to do generally depends on your diabetes management and the medications you take.

Most glucose monitors have an inbuilt memory that records your BGL as you do them; however, your team may still ask you to keep a manual record.

It’s best to take your monitor as well as your manual diary with you to your appointments for review.

When to check your BGLs

The ideal times to check your blood glucose level are fasting (before your first meal of the day) and no sooner than two hours after food.

These times will give your team a good idea of how your medications are working and where to make adjustments if necessary.

Sometimes you may be asked to check your blood glucose level more often. This can be because your level of activity has changed or your routine has changed, for example, when you go travelling or on holiday, or if adjustments have been made to your medications, or if your levels are unpredictably high or low.

For further information on blood glucose monitoring contact your local team or call Diabetes NSW & ACT on 1300 342 238 and ask to speak to one of our Credentialed Diabetes Educators.