Glucose is the most common type of sugar in the blood and is the major source of energy for all the cells in your body. Especially important as an energy source for your brain and nervous system, where glucose constitutes more than 80% of the total brain energy requirement.
Normal levels of glucose mean that your regulating systems for balancing storage and availability of energy are intact. Maintaining normal levels of glucose will increase your chances of a longer and healthier life.
It is known that normal levels of glucose in blood is associated with a lower risk for developing cardiovascular disease. Tracking your glucose levels are important for early detection of prediabetes.
It is estimated that approximately 18% of adults 18-74 in Sweden suffer from prediabetes, meaning that early detection and early lifestyle changes such as increased physical activity and a more healthy diet, could prevent the development of diabetes in almost 1,5 million Swedish adults!
Measuring your glucose can be relevant for several reasons:
Identifying early signs of risk for developing diabetes, so called prediabetes
Diagnosing diabetes
Tracking the effect of diabetes medication
Tracking the effect of lifestyle changes
Measuring biological age with BioAge
Low blood sugar levels, also known as hypoglycemia, means that you have less circulating blood glucose in your bloodstream than what is healthy for you.
This may sound good at first, but the body needs energy, and glucose is the main source of cellular energy.
If the levels are too low, there may not be enough energy for cells to function properly. Very low levels of glucose, most often seen in diabetes patients when overmedicating with insulin, may cause headaches, blurred vision, vomiting, irritability and confusion. In very rare and extreme cases, if no immediate medical attention is received, hypoglycemia can be fatal.
High levels of blood glucose in your bloodstream, also known as hyperglycemia, mean that the body lacks sufficient effects of insulin. This glucose imbalance, if chronic, is what we call diabetes (mellitus).
Depending on the underlying mechanism for causing the elevated glucose levels, it may be defined as various types of diabetes.
Elevated glucose levels can basically originate from two various causes individually or in combination:
More glucose in the bloodstream than what the produced and released insulin can handle.
Impairment in the production, release or effectiveness of insulin.
Excessive amounts of glucose can have many underlying causes, such as:
High intake of food
Physical inactivity
Stress
Impairment in production or effectiveness of insulin, also known as insulin resistance, many times derives from lifestyle, where obesity, physical inactivity, sleep deprivation and chronic stress are common causes. On top of this, increasing age is a risk factor as well as genetics.