That early morning jump in your blood sugar? It's called the dawn phenomenon or the dawn effect. It usually happens between 2 and 8 a.m. But why? Generally, the normal hormonal changes your body makes in the morning will boost your blood sugar, whether you have diabetes or not. If you don't, your body just makes more insulin to balance everything out. You don't even notice that
it's happening. But if you have diabetes, it's different. Since your body doesn't respond to insulin the same as most, your fasting blood sugar reading can go up, even if you follow a strict diet. The boost in sugar is your body's way of making sure you have enough energy to get up and start the day. If you have diabetes, your body may not have enough insulin to counteract these
hormones. That disrupts the delicate balance that you work so hard to keep, and your sugar readings can be too high by morning. The effects of the dawn phenomenon can vary from person to person, even from day to day. Some researchers believe the natural overnight release of what are called counter-regulatory hormones -- like growth hormones, cortisol,
glucagon and epinephrine -- makes your insulin resistance stronger. This will make your blood sugar go up. You may also have high blood sugar in the morning because: If the dawn phenomenon affects you, try to: You'll also want to avoid all sugar-sweetened beverages, like soda, fruit punch, fruit drinks, and sweet tea. Just a single serving can raise your blood sugar -- and, in some cases, give you hundreds of extra calories. If you have diabetes, chances are your blood sugar will be higher in the morning from time to time. That may not be something to be overly concerned about. If it
happens for several mornings in a row, check it once during the night -- around 2 or 3 a.m. -- for a few nights. Then, take those numbers to your doctor. They can figure out if you really have the dawn phenomenon, or if something else is causing those higher morning numbers. — -- Question:What is the normal range for blood sugar levels, and what blood sugar level constitutes a true emergency? Answer:Now, in a normal individual we measure blood sugar under different circumstances. What we call fasting blood sugar or blood glucose levels is usually done six to eight hours after the last meal. So it's most commonly done before breakfast in the morning; and the normal range there is 70 to 100 milligrams per deciliter. Now when you eat a meal, blood sugar generally rises and in a normal individual it usually does not get above a 135 to 140 milligrams per deciliter. So there is a fairly narrow range of blood sugar throughout the entire day. Now in our diabetic patients we see both low blood sugar levels that we call hypoglycemia, or elevated blood sugars, hyperglycemia. Now, if the blood sugar drops below about 60 or 65 milligrams per deciliter, people will generally get symptoms, which are some shakiness, feeling of hunger, maybe a little racing of the heart and they will usually be trenchant or if they eat something, it goes away right away. But if blood sugar drops below 50 and can get down as low as 40 or 30 or even 20, then there is a progressive loss of mental function and eventually unconsciousness and seizures. And of course that is very dangerous and a medical emergency. On the other side, if blood sugar gets up above 180 to 200, then it exceeds the capacity of the kidneys to reabsorb the glucose and we begin to spill glucose into the urine. And if it gets way up high, up in the 400s or even 500s, it can be associated with some alteration in mental function. And in this situation, if it persists for a long time, we can actually see mental changes as well. So either too low or very exceedingly high can cause changes in mental function. Next: What Does Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) Mean And What Does FBS Tell You? Previous: How Often Must I Exercise And What Kind Of Exercise Should I Do To Lower My Risk Of Developing Type 2 Diabetes? If you have high blood sugar first thing in the morning, before you’ve eaten, there are a few possible reasons. It could be due to hormones telling your liver to wake you up by releasing blood sugar (glucose). It could also be a sign that your body is becoming resistant to a hormone called insulin, which tells your cells to absorb sugar from your blood. Making changes to when and what you eat before you go to bed could be one way to manage high blood sugar in the morning. Exercise can also help. ZOE runs the world’s largest scientific study of nutrition and blood sugar responses in the world, with over 15,000 participants so far. Our research shows that everyone responds differently to food. Managing morning blood sugar involves some trial and error, which is why it helps to have a clear picture of your body’s blood sugar and responses to different foods. Our at-home test analyzes your blood sugar and blood fat levels before and after eating — as well as your unique community of gut bacteria — to help you understand which foods are best for you. You can find out more by taking our free quiz. Read on to learn more about why you may have high morning blood sugar. According to the American Diabetes Association, there are three main causes of high blood sugar in the morning:
The dawn phenomenonEveryone has fluctuations in the hormones that control blood sugar levels, including cortisol and insulin, and your blood sugar levels vary throughout the day. In a complex cascade of interactions between different parts of the body, a surge of the hormone cortisol in the morning tells your liver to release glucose into the bloodstream. This high blood sugar — known as hyperglycemia — triggers your body to release more insulin, which will usually keep blood glucose levels in the bloodstream within a normal range in individuals without diabetes. In people with prediabetes or diabetes, morning blood sugar can remain high as the body becomes less sensitive to insulin or produces smaller amounts of insulin. This is known as the “dawn phenomenon.” High blood sugar in the mornings affects roughly half of all people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Low insulin levels during the nightYou may experience low insulin levels during the night if you take supplemental insulin, either from a pump or daily injections. Most often, there are three reasons that insulin levels might be too low overnight, leading to raised morning blood sugar:
The Somogyi effectThe Somogyi effect is named after chemist Michael Somogyi, who first described it in the 1930s. If you are taking supplemental insulin but skip dinner without adjusting your insulin, your blood sugar can dip too low while you’re asleep. Occasionally, your liver makes up for this by releasing more glucose, meaning that you wake up with raised blood sugar. This can also happen when a person living with diabetes takes too large a dose of insulin after dinner. Taking too much insulin suppresses blood sugar levels too far while you’re asleep, triggering the liver to release glucose. What are normal and high morning blood sugar levels?The term “morning blood sugar” describes your blood sugar level after you wake up but before you eat anything. This “fasting” measurement shows how well your body controlled your blood sugar overnight. When you eat, it leads to an increase in blood sugar. Insulin lets the sugar leave your blood and enter the cells in your body, converting it into useful energy. If you don’t regularly monitor your blood sugar to manage a condition like diabetes, you may not be aware of your fasting blood sugar level. But you might want to understand what your levels mean if you get a result back from your regular physician’s checkup. Consistently high blood sugar can cause tiredness and mental fogginess and can lead to serious health problems if untreated, but most mild cases cause no noticeable symptoms at all. Most people learn they have high blood sugar after seeing a doctor about something else. What units are used for measuring blood sugar levels?Doctors measure blood sugar differently depending on where you live:
Whichever measurement a test uses, it’s to compare your level to a normal blood sugar range. If you live with diabetes, you’ll have higher blood sugar levels than someone who doesn’t have diabetes. So, a “normal” blood glucose level for a person with prediabetes or diabetes is higher. There are other ways to measure blood sugar, such as a hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) test that estimates the average blood sugar levels over the last 3 months. Normal blood sugar levels when you wake upAccording to the American Diabetes Association, your blood sugar when you wake should be below 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) if you don’t have diabetes. Recent ZOE research found that the average fasting glucose of participants who did not have the condition was 91 mg/dL (5.05 mmol/L). Join our mailing listSign up for fresh insights into our scientific discoveries and the latest nutrition updates. No spam, just science. High blood sugar levels when you wake upIf your fasting glucose before breakfast is 100–125 mg/dL (5.6–6.9 mmol/L), it’s higher than doctors would expect to see in a person with healthy blood sugar control. Fasting blood glucose in this range means you could have prediabetes — a health condition that significantly increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. What fasting blood sugar level means you have diabetes?A doctor will make a diagnosis of diabetes when someone has a fasting blood sugar level that’s 126 mg/dL (7 mmol/L) or higher on at least two different occasions. It’s a sign that your body either isn’t sensitive enough to insulin or doesn’t produce enough insulin to control blood glucose appropriately. How blood sugar testing could help youWhenever you eat, your blood sugar level rises, before dropping again some time later. This is called a postprandial, or post-meal, response and is perfectly normal. However, some foods cause your blood sugar to rise much higher than others. These “spikes” can lead to bigger dips afterward due to large amounts of insulin released in response to the sugar spike. This can leave you feeling tired or lacking in energy. Over time, this pattern can increase your risk of metabolic diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Importantly, ZOE’s research has shown that everyone responds differently to foods. This means a food that’s fine for one person’s blood sugar may cause others to spike, and vice versa. ZOE’s at-home test uses a sensor called a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to measure your blood sugar levels throughout the day and night, before and after you eat. This helps us to see how different foods affect your levels. But unlike having just a CGM, our tests also look at your blood fat levels and your gut microbiome — the bacteria and other microorganisms that live in your gut. These are both linked to your metabolic health, too. The ZOE program analyzes all of this information to give you personalized recommendations that can help you eat the best foods for your unique metabolism and avoid the responses associated with worse metabolic health. You can take a free quiz to find out more. How to lower high morning blood sugarDiet changes, weight management, and regular exercise are helpful for managing morning blood sugar levels. 1. Build a clear picture of how your blood sugar works by using a CGMAs we’ve seen, everyone’s blood sugar control works differently, so it can be helpful to know whether morning spikes are a problem for you. Unless you have diabetes, it is unlikely that you check your glucose regularly. Checking your glucose a few times throughout the day or continuously via CGM can help to show how your body is handling changes in glucose levels during fasting or after meals. 2. Spot the patternLook at the information coming from your blood sugar sensor and when your spikes happen. If it shows that you consistently wake up with mildly high blood sugar or experience it overnight, what or when you eat may have a role to play. For people with diabetes, it could also mean that you’re not using enough insulin or are injecting at the wrong time of day. But for people without the condition, it mainly points to the need for making important but simple diet and meal schedule changes. 3. Avoid late-night meals and snacksIf you’re producing enough insulin and your cells are responding to it, the dawn phenomenon isn’t a likely culprit for your high morning blood sugar levels. In a recent study, researchers found that eating dinner at 6 p.m. improved 24-hour blood glucose results, while eating at 9 p.m. made them worse. The results don’t necessarily confirm that eating later makes your personal blood sugar high after you wake up, but they do suggest that late dining could make it harder to control your levels. Even one late-night meal seemed to make a difference in glucose control over a 24-hour period the next day. Timing is important as seen above, but the type of food is also important to keep your glucose in check. Knowing the relationship between different foods and how your body responds to them can be a key to balancing glucose levels. 4. Try doing more exerciseWorking out uses blood glucose for fuel, moving it from your blood to your muscles. A 2021 review found that exercise helped people living with and without diabetes control their fasting blood glucose. If you find that you tend to wake up with high blood sugar, try going for a run, following a YouTube workout, or booking yourself into gym classes. This could help you bring down your morning blood sugar spikes. 5. Weight managementWeight loss has been shown to decrease insulin resistance. This helps improve glucose control, and it likely reduces the risk of developing diabetes in those who don’t already have the condition. But losing weight can be challenging. Work with a healthcare professional to find out what weight range to aim for to support your individual health. Our unpublished research found that people who closely followed their personalized ZOE nutrition program lost 9.4 pounds on average, and over 80% said they had more energy and didn’t feel hungry. When to speak to your doctorIf you try eating earlier, sticking to healthier meals, and exercising without seeing a drop in your fasting blood glucose, it might be time to speak to your doctor about further testing. Tests like the HbA1c can help your doctor confirm whether you’d benefit from medical treatment. This test shows your average blood glucose levels over the last 3 months. Your doctor may recommend controlling your fasting blood sugar level through diet or exercise if it’s high enough to suggest prediabetes. If type 2 diabetes is developing, they may prescribe medication or insulin injections if it becomes moderate to severe, but it’s possible for many people to manage type 2 diabetes with exercise and diet alone. If you already have a diabetes diagnosis and take insulin, speak to your healthcare provider about whether they can change your dose or type of insulin or recommend a shift in your medication schedule. SummaryIf you live with diabetes and have high blood sugar when you wake up, it’s usually for one of two main reasons: the dawn phenomenon or an insulin schedule or dosage that isn’t working for you. Your body might also be overcorrecting low blood sugar from during the night. Doctors suggest that a normal fasting blood sugar range is between 70–100 mg/dL (3.9–5.6 mmol/L). If your fasting blood sugar is consistently over 126 mg/dL (7 mmol/L), your doctor will diagnose diabetes. You can reduce your risk of high fasting blood sugar by eating your dinner earlier the night before. If you use insulin, it’s important to take the right dose at the right time to keep your blood sugar regular overnight. Repeated blood sugar spikes and dips after you eat can increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases. ZOE’s at-home test helps you to understand your personal responses to food and choose the best foods for you. Take our free quiz to find out how ZOE could benefit your health. What is a good blood sugar level in the morning?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.
What should my fasting blood sugar be in the morning non diabetic?Here are the normal blood sugar ranges for a person without diabetes according to the American Diabetes Association: Fasting blood sugar (in the morning, before eating): Less than 100 mg/dL. 1-2 hours after a meal: Less than 140 mg/dL.
What should a pre diabetic blood sugar be in the morning?Fasting blood sugar test
Less than 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L ) is normal. 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L ) is diagnosed as prediabetes. 126 mg/dL (7.0 mmol/L ) or higher on two separate tests is diagnosed as diabetes.
Is 120 blood sugar high in the morning?A fasting blood glucose less than 100 is normal. 100-120 is called "impaired fasting glucose", or pre-diabetes. A person with a fasting blood sugar over 120, or a non-fasting blood sugar over 200, is diabetic.
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