Living healthy can be pretty overwhelming: You should sleep enough, but not too much. You should drink at least 2.5 liters of water per day and avoid alcohol. You should exercise enough, but not overdo it. You should be sociable, but do not forget to take care of yourself...
When you're trying to get the most out of yourself, monitoring your blood sugar levels and stabilizing them probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind, is it?
Why should you care about blood glucose norms even if you don't have diabetes?
You may have only heard of blood sugar and its effect in relation to diabetes mellitus. This is a disease that affects the ability to regulate blood sugar levels.
But fortunately, blood glucose levels, which used to be seen purely as an indicator of a metabolic disorder, have now gained in importance. Even in healthy people.
"Checking blood glucose levels is a necessity for all those who have diabetes or prediabetes. But even for (supposedly) healthy people, measuring blood glucose is a helpful and, above all, reliable tool to improve overall health before long-term problems occur."
By collecting real-time data with a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device, you get detailed information about how your body is responding to your lifestyle. You'll also know when it's time to make changes.
Preventing disease is just one of the many benefits of continuous blood glucose monitoring. So take a look at the top 12 short- and long-term benefits of stable blood sugar.
Stable blood sugar levels: 6 short-term benefits you need to know about
1: Bye-bye inner restlessness and nervousness!
After a long day at work, you're too tired (or a little too lazy...) to cook fresh and healthy meals. So you reach for various snacks that contain a lot of sugar. Suddenly, you're all energized and psyched. But before you've even finished watching the last episode of "Grey's Anatomy," the energy rush has faded. Exhaustion hits you with full force. You feel down, restless, anxious and hungry.
What you have experienced at this moment is what is called a "sugar high": The foods you ate caused a rapid rise in your blood sugar levels, followed by an equally sharp drop.[1]
If this scenario sounds familiar, you should reduce sugar in the future to stabilize your blood sugar levels.
2: Reduce Brain Fog
How often do you drink a third (or fourth...) cup of coffee, hoping it will finally help you focus on work?
The good news first: It's probably not because of your lack of willpower that you can't focus.
Now for the bad news: it could be that your blood sugar levels are on a constant glucose roller coaster.
Acute and chronic unstable blood glucose levels often lead to decreased cognitive performance,[2] making it difficult to master tasks.
Get rid of the "brain fog" quickly: keep your blood sugar levels stable by changing your diet to whole foods and say goodbye to too much coffee.
3: More energy
You've slept eight hours, but you're still tired during the day, especially after every meal?
There may be something wrong with your energy levels and your blood sugar levels are the culprit.
For example, if you don't respond well to certain types of carbohydrates, it can cause your blood sugar to go up and down radically. You feel extremely tired and sleepy.
Even if it's hard: Try cutting out or swapping out some of your favorite sugary snacks.
Reach out in the future:
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Yogurt with berries
By swapping sugary snacks with the foods mentioned above, you can observe if your energy levels stay the same throughout the day once your blood sugar levels stabilize.
4: Bye, bye, ravenous appetite!
A bag of chips here, a candy bar there... You love to snack, even if you just ate a whole meal?
If that's the case, you should rethink your eating habits.
Let's face it. Even though snacking seems like a normal thing to do, it could be disrupting your natural blood sugar flow and leading to even more cravings.
If you keep your blood sugar levels stable by feeding your body less glycemic foods like whole grains, vegetables, or legumes, you'll feel fuller for much longer.[3] Then you can also indulge in a sweet snack between meals without fear of a blood sugar crash.
5: Better fat burning
If counting calories to lose weight does not work for you, we would like to tell you something important right now:
Your body is much more complex than you think.
When blood glucose levels rise in your body, insulin follows to reduce glucose in the blood and bring it to the cells. In addition to regulating blood sugar levels, insulin is an important hormone involved in fat storage and weight gain. Constantly high insulin levels inhibit the breakdown of fat cells for energy and promote their storage in the body.
Even if you strictly adhere to your daily calorie requirements, eating a diet of simple sugars may lead to chronically high blood sugar levels and constant insulin production.
Staying in a healthy blood sugar range (normal values: 80-110 mg/dl) gives your body time to lower insulin to a level that allows you to burn fat for energy between meals.
The result: weight loss, a better metabolism and no more calorie counting.
6: No more headaches or migraines
Headaches are especially frustrating when it seems you've already tried everything to get rid of them.
The causes of throbbing pain in the neck, face and head vary widely and remain a mystery to scientists, especially when migraines are involved.
A recent study found elevated blood glucose levels in migraine patients. This suggests that blood glucose fluctuations may contribute to migraine attacks. Further studies have yet to clarify whether these elevated levels are directly related to migraine or are simply a stress response to the throbbing pain.
But even if science is not quite as far along as we would like, it is definitely worth a try to take a few deep breaths to get rid of the acute headache and thus stabilize blood sugar levels.
Short-term benefits of this nature are great, but if you want to tackle this issue long-term, read on now!
Stable blood sugar levels: 6 long-term benefits you need to know about
1: Improved metabolism
We've already touched on this a bit in point 5 above, but fat burning is just one small piece of the big puzzle that can help you lose and, more importantly, control your weight.
If you can keep your blood sugar levels in a healthy range of 80-110 mg/dl, your body will learn how to create and process energy depending on physical activity and food intake.
This causes your body to tap into the right fuel source (called "metabolic flexibility" (MF)[4]) when needed. This provides a higher energy supply for your daily needs, whether you are resting or exercising.
2: Balance hormones
Hormonal imbalance is often seen as a female phenomenon. But this is not correct: Whether woman or man - anyone can suffer from a hormonal imbalance. Often, uncontrolled ups and downs of blood sugar levels are the main cause.
The hormones insulin and glucagon, which are responsible for regulating blood glucose levels, are part of a much larger structure, namely the so-called endocrine system (= hormone system).
When your insulin levels are chronically high, a chain reaction occurs that leaves a "hormonal battlefield" that can affect fertility in both men and women.
That's why a balanced, hormonal relationship is really important.
3: Less inflammation
Inflammation in itself is not a bad thing. When your body fights an infection or tries to heal a cut on your finger, it's a natural defense mechanism that causes pain, swelling and even fever.
However, inflammation should only be temporary. Chronically high blood sugar levels and insulin resistance (= the cells no longer react appropriately to the hormone insulin[5]) can be pro-inflammatory.[6] This puts the immune system on constant alert, although in reality there is nothing to fight against except your own body.
In summary, this means that if you keep your blood sugar levels in a healthy range, you can reduce inflammation in the long term and avoid further complications such as diabetes.
4: Slower aging and senescence
Instead of investing a lot of money in expensive skin care products, you should rather spend money on healthy food, a good sunscreen with a high sun protection factor and a CGM device.
Research findings suggest that elevated blood glucose levels and glucose fluctuations contribute to the "accelerated aging process."
The main features of skin aging include changes in moisture content, a loss of thickness and flexibility, the appearance of wrinkles, and aberrant pigmentation.
Severe elevations in blood glucose levels can lead to increased oxidative stress, inflammation and glycation, a mechanism that acts as an "aging accelerator". All of these factors are associated with increased skin aging and senescence (= the process by which cells irreversibly stop dividing and enter a state of permanent growth arrest without dying).[7],[8]
Keep an eye on your blood sugar levels to maintain a fresh and healthy complexion.
5: Improved cholesterol levels
It is a common misconception that only foods high in saturated fat can raise cholesterol levels. The effects of constantly high blood sugar levels and insulin resistance are just as bad.[9],[10]
Controlling sugar consumption and thus maintaining balanced blood glucose and insulin levels helps improve cholesterol metabolism and prevent subsequent coronary heart disease.
6: Lower risk of chronic diseases
Cardiovascular disease such as arteriosclerosis (= popularly known as "vascular calcification") is just one of many dangerous diseases that can be associated with chronically unstable blood glucose levels and insulin resistance.[11]
Obesity, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and even Alzheimer's disease and cancer have been linked to high blood sugar levels.
Keeping your blood sugar levels in a healthy range will greatly reduce your risk of chronic disease.
After all that info about blood sugar levels, you're probably wondering:
"What does stable even mean? And how do I know I'm in the so-called healthy range?"
Here are 3 simple steps that can help you answer these questions:
Step 1: Get a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device.
A continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device is the most reliable and readily available way to measure your blood glucose. You can see what progress you're making or if anything has changed.
Step 2: Familiarize yourself with the data
As mentioned above, it is quite normal for blood glucose levels to fluctuate throughout the day and night.
Diet, exercise, sleep, and even stress can affect your blood sugar. But as long as the blood sugar spikes aren't too high and the lows aren't too low, the careful cycle continues without harming your body.
To actually use the data your continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device collects, let's first take a closer look at the "healthy range" of blood glucose.
Blood glucose standard values:
Blood glucose is measured in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl). A value between 80 and 110 mg/dl is considered normal and stable.
If you frequently see drastic spikes above 160 mg/dl or drops below 60 mg/dl in your HELLO INSIDE app, please try to slowly incorporate some new habits into your lifestyle. Through the app, you'll get immediate feedback on whether or not your changes are having an effect.
Step 3: Learn how to keep your blood sugar stable
Once you become familiar with your continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device, you'll quickly find that the 12 benefits to stabilizing your blood glucose levels in the short and long term are within reach.
Whether you choose the quick fix or the long-lasting effect, here's some advice on how to stabilize your blood sugar levels
- Consume only a few refined carbohydrates or do without them altogether
- Combine fat, protein and carbohydrates with each other
- Eat high fiber foods
- Control portions and timing (learn more about intermittent fasting).
- Sleep enough
- Reduce stress
- Move regularly and do sports
You can try any of these tips, link them directly to your CGM data, and learn what actually works for your blood glucose levels and what doesn't. Are you ready?
[1] Breymeyer, K. L., Lampe, J. W., McGregor, B. A., & Neuhouser, M. L. (2016). Subjective mood and energy
levels of healthy weight and overweight/obese healthy adults on high-and low-glycemic load
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[2] Sünram-Lea SI, Foster JK, Durlach P, Perez C. Glucose facilitation of cognitive performance in healthy young
adults: examination of the influence of fast-duration, time of day and pre-consumption plasma glucose
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[3] Marty N, Dallaporta M, Thorens B. Brain glucose sensing, counterregulation, and energy homeostasis.
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[4] Goodpaster BH, Sparks LM. Metabolic Flexibility in Health and Disease. Cell Metab. 2017 May 2;25(5):1027-
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[6] Esposito K, Nappo F, Marfella R, Giugliano G, Giugliano F, Ciotola M, Quagliaro L, Ceriello A, Giugliano D. Inflammatory cytokine concentrations are acutely increased by hyperglycemia in humans: role of oxidative stress. Circulation. 2002 Oct 15;106(16):2067-72. https://doi:%2010.1161/01.cir.0000034509.14906.ae.%20 PMID: 12379575 .
[7] Jacczak B, Rubiś B, Totoń E. Potential of Naturally Derived Compounds in Telomerase and Telomere Modulation in Skin Senescence and Aging. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(12):6381. published 2021 Jun 15. doi:10.3390/ijms22126381.
[8] Noordam R, Gunn DA, Tomlin CC, et al. High serum glucose levels are associated with a higher perceived age. Age (Dordr). 2013;35(1):189-195. doi:10.1007/s11357-011-9339-9.
[9] Gylling H, Hallikainen M, Pihlajamäki J, et al. Insulin sensitivity regulates cholesterol metabolism to a greater extent than obesity: lessons from the METSIM Study. J Lipid Res. 2010;51(8):2422-2427. doi:10.1194/jlr.P006619.
[10] Chehade JM, Gladysz M, Mooradian AD. Dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetes: prevalence, pathophysiology, and
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[11] DiNicolantonio JJ, OKeefe JH. Added sugars drive coronary heart disease via insulin resistance and
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[12] Chang KT, Lampe JW, Schwarz Y, Breymeyer KL, Noar KA, Song X, Neuhouser ML. Low glycemic load experimental diet more satiating than high glycemic load diet. Nutr Cancer. 2012;64(5):666-73.
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