Knowing your blood sugar levels helps you manage your diabetes and reduces your risk of having serious complications – now and in the future.

What are blood sugar levels?

Your blood sugar levels, also known as blood glucose levels, are a measurement that show how much glucose you have in your blood. Glucose is a sugar that you get from food and drink. Your blood sugar levels go up and down throughout the day and for people living with diabetes these changes are larger and happen more often than in people who don’t have diabetes.

You can check your blood sugar levels yourself by doing a finger-prick test, by using a flash glucose monitor or with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). You can do this a number of times a day – helping you keep an eye on your levels as you go about your life and help you work out what to eat and how much medication to take. Find out your ideal target range.

But not everyone with diabetes needs to check their levels like this. You’ll need to if you take certain diabetes medication. Always talk to your healthcare team if you’re not sure whether that’s you – they’ll give you advice on whether to check them yourself and how often.

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