Why is glucose monitoring important?

Two people look at glucose data on smartphone; one seated with a towel around neck and wearing a continuous glucose monitor

Regularly monitoring your glucose levels can help you take better care of your diabetes. It helps you learn how food, activity levels, stress, medicine, and insulin affect your glucose levels.

6 in 10 Singaporeans with Diabetes have
poor glucose control.²⁰⁵

Why does glucose levels differ in a person with diabetes?

In a person without diabetes:

Body cells gets "fuel" (blood glucose) it needs to function.
Blood glucose levels are normal and does not pile up in the bloodstream.

In a person with diabetes:

Blood glucose levels become abnormal and "piles up" in the bloodstream. ²⁰⁷
Prolonged high sugar levels in the bloodstream can damage large and small blood vessels.²⁰⁸

if poorly controlled, diabetes can lead to serious complications .

2 in 3

Individuals with new
kidney failure had
diabetes²⁰⁹

1 in 2

Individuals who had a
heart attack had
diabetes²⁰⁹

2 in 5

Individuals who had a
stroke had diabetes²⁰⁹

Half of the disease
burden

Of blindness and vision
impairment is due to
diabetes²⁰⁹

9 in 10

Individuals who had a
lower limb amputation had
diabetes²⁰⁹

Start monitoring your glucose and improve your lifestyle in various ways!

Food: In an era of information overload, continuous glucose monitoring can help you tackle the "To eat or not to eat" dilemma by monitoring changes in your glucose levels according to the changes in your meal components²¹⁴ and using that information to drive your decision.

Exercise: While exercise is necessary, over-exercise or even not doing enough, can lead to counter effects on diabetes management. Continuous glucose monitoring can help you understand if the exercise routine is suitable for you by predicting an overall direction in which your glucose levels are going. Thereby alerting you if your levels are going down due to over-exercise (hypoglycaemia)²⁰³.

Medications: A regular account of your glucose levels also helps your doctor get a wide range of information to work with, while understanding if the prescribed medications are working for you. If any medication requires alterations or replacement, they need not wait for an extended period of time²⁰³.

With disorders that involve strict glucose management, there is no one solution that fits all, since no two individuals react to lifestyle interventions in the exact same way. Every individual and every physiology are unique²⁰³.

When living with diabetes, if there is one gospel truth you need to believe in, then it's your own glucose levels.

So when in doubt, just #AskYourGlucose and put an end to your dilemmas.