Proactively Manage Blood Sugar Levels for a Healthier Future
Blood Sugar Levels management is a day to day task for a healthier future
Blood Sugar Levels
The blood sugar level, blood sugar concentration, blood glucose level, or glycemia, is the measure of glucose concentrated in the blood. As a part of metabolic homeostasis, the body tightly regulates blood glucose levels.
Approximately four grams of dissolved glucose is always maintained in the blood plasma of a 70 kg (154 lb) human. Glucose is also stored in skeletal muscle and liver cells in the form of glycogen. In fasting individuals, blood glucose is maintained at a constant level by using glycogen stores in the liver and skeletal muscle. Glucose can be transported from the intestines or liver to other tissues in the body via the bloodstream. Insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas, primarily regulates cellular glucose uptake.
Several tissues, including the brain, require proper maintenance of glucose levels for normal function. Brain consumes approximately 60% of blood glucose in fasting, sedentary individuals. Persistent elevation in blood glucose causes glucose toxicity, contributing to cell dysfunction and the complications associated with diabetes.
Glucose levels are usually lowest in the morning, before the first meal of the day, and rise after meals for an hour or two by a few millimoles.
Hyperglycemia refers to persistently high glycemia, while hypoglycemia is the term used for low blood glucose levels. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by persistent hyperglycemia from a variety of causes, and it is the most prominent disease related to the failure of blood sugar regulation. There are different methods of testing and measuring blood sugar levels.
Drinking alcohol causes an initial surge in blood sugar and later tends to cause levels to fall. Also, certain drugs can increase or decrease glucose levels.