· CDE Mehandi Sharma
What Your Blood Sugar Numbers Mean
Blood sugar numbers come in several kinds, and they are not interchangeable — each one answers a different question about your diabetes.
| Number | What it tells you | Usual target |
|---|---|---|
| Before a meal | How things sit when you have not eaten recently | 80–130 mg/dL |
| 1–2 hours after a meal | How your body handled that particular meal | Under 180 mg/dL |
| HbA1c | Your rough average over about three months | Set with your doctor |
These are general targets, not your targets. They shift with age, how long you have had diabetes, other conditions, and whether you take medicines that can cause a low. An older person living alone is often given a deliberately looser target, because a hypo is more dangerous for them than a slightly higher average.
HbA1c should be checked at least twice a year if you have diabetes.
The most common mistake is treating a single number as a verdict. A reading of 210 after a wedding dinner tells you about that dinner. What matters is whether your readings, taken at consistent times, sit mostly where you want them over weeks.
For the detail on your own ranges, see your target ranges, in mg/dL.