William stevens
New Member
how is it that my blood glucose reading is higher in the morning than at night.
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Blood glucose
- Thread starter William stevens
- Start date
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DeusXM
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Several reasons:
https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/advice.61705/#post-630487
Dawn phenomenon
What is it?
Before waking, your body starts pumping out glucose and hormones that increase insulin resistance, which causes your blood sugar to raise.
How do I know if it's this?
Set your alarm to go off a couple of hours before you'd usually wake, and test. If your reading at this time is normal and your morning reading is high, it's probably dawn phenomenon
How do I fix it?
With difficulty. Some options include eating a higher protein meal before bed, which gives your body the fuel it'll need in advance of the morning. You can also try eating a larger breakfast in the morning to train your body to expect a food hit, so it doesn't start dumping sugar. Or you can look at altering your basal timings.
Somogyi effect
What is it?
When you have a hypo in your sleep and don't wake up, it's believed your liver starts pumping out glucose to treat the hypo - which then causes higher blood sugar levels in the morning.
How do I know if it's this?
Set your alarm to wake you at something like 2am or 3am and then test. If your reading is sailing pretty close to hypo territory, it may be this what's happening. Also, those who believe this happens to them also seem wake up with hangover-like symptoms - very tired, headachey etc.
How do I fix it?
Decrease your basal. You shouldn't take preventative action by eating and then go to bed with higher numbers - it'll stop the hypos but it'll just make you fat and then in 10 years time you'll have a foot fall off.
Delayed dinners
What is it?
Protein takes 4-6 hours to start breaking down into glucose but it can be quite significant. A high protein meal can cause your blood sugar to go up quite a lot, but quite late on.
How do I know if it's this?
Test before your evening meal, two hours after, and 4-6 hours after. If your latest reading seems unusually high, it's probably the protein.
How do I fix it?
Either change the proportions of your meal, or increase your basal. Changing the proportions is probably better.
Insufficient basal
What is it?
Your liver will slowly output glucose through the night. If you don't have enough insulin in your system, this will raise your blood sugar.
How do I know if it's this?
Test before going to bed, test again during the night (maybe once or twice) and then test again in the morning. If you see the readings consistently increase throughout the night, you probably don't have enough basal insulin.
How do I fix it?
Adjust your basal insulin until your readings look better.
'Feet on the floor'
What is it?
After you wake, your liver starts pumping out glucose. It's similar in many respects to dawn phenomenon but happens AFTER you get up and out of bed, not before
How do I know if it's this?
This one's easy-ish to catch, if you are confident that your basal is pretty much on point for the day. You do a reading the moment you get up. Then go about your usual routine (bet it doesn't involve breakfast, right?) and test at 30 minutes and one hour after getting up. If your blood sugar is clearly rocketing up, you've got 'feet on the floor'. You might be astonished at how quick/significant this can be - I personally have noticed my BG go up by as much as 3mmol/l in 15 minutes. It also won't necessarily happen at the same time every day - for instance, if you usually get up at 7am on weekdays, you might be high by 8am, but this won't happen on weekends when you get up later. The point is, your body does it when you get up, not according to what time it thinks it is!
How do I fix it?
Two options here. One is if you're not eating breakfast, eat something - basically exactly as you'd fix dawn phenomenon. You can retrain your body.
https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/advice.61705/#post-630487
Dawn phenomenon
What is it?
Before waking, your body starts pumping out glucose and hormones that increase insulin resistance, which causes your blood sugar to raise.
How do I know if it's this?
Set your alarm to go off a couple of hours before you'd usually wake, and test. If your reading at this time is normal and your morning reading is high, it's probably dawn phenomenon
How do I fix it?
With difficulty. Some options include eating a higher protein meal before bed, which gives your body the fuel it'll need in advance of the morning. You can also try eating a larger breakfast in the morning to train your body to expect a food hit, so it doesn't start dumping sugar. Or you can look at altering your basal timings.
Somogyi effect
What is it?
When you have a hypo in your sleep and don't wake up, it's believed your liver starts pumping out glucose to treat the hypo - which then causes higher blood sugar levels in the morning.
How do I know if it's this?
Set your alarm to wake you at something like 2am or 3am and then test. If your reading is sailing pretty close to hypo territory, it may be this what's happening. Also, those who believe this happens to them also seem wake up with hangover-like symptoms - very tired, headachey etc.
How do I fix it?
Decrease your basal. You shouldn't take preventative action by eating and then go to bed with higher numbers - it'll stop the hypos but it'll just make you fat and then in 10 years time you'll have a foot fall off.
Delayed dinners
What is it?
Protein takes 4-6 hours to start breaking down into glucose but it can be quite significant. A high protein meal can cause your blood sugar to go up quite a lot, but quite late on.
How do I know if it's this?
Test before your evening meal, two hours after, and 4-6 hours after. If your latest reading seems unusually high, it's probably the protein.
How do I fix it?
Either change the proportions of your meal, or increase your basal. Changing the proportions is probably better.
Insufficient basal
What is it?
Your liver will slowly output glucose through the night. If you don't have enough insulin in your system, this will raise your blood sugar.
How do I know if it's this?
Test before going to bed, test again during the night (maybe once or twice) and then test again in the morning. If you see the readings consistently increase throughout the night, you probably don't have enough basal insulin.
How do I fix it?
Adjust your basal insulin until your readings look better.
'Feet on the floor'
What is it?
After you wake, your liver starts pumping out glucose. It's similar in many respects to dawn phenomenon but happens AFTER you get up and out of bed, not before
How do I know if it's this?
This one's easy-ish to catch, if you are confident that your basal is pretty much on point for the day. You do a reading the moment you get up. Then go about your usual routine (bet it doesn't involve breakfast, right?) and test at 30 minutes and one hour after getting up. If your blood sugar is clearly rocketing up, you've got 'feet on the floor'. You might be astonished at how quick/significant this can be - I personally have noticed my BG go up by as much as 3mmol/l in 15 minutes. It also won't necessarily happen at the same time every day - for instance, if you usually get up at 7am on weekdays, you might be high by 8am, but this won't happen on weekends when you get up later. The point is, your body does it when you get up, not according to what time it thinks it is!
How do I fix it?
Two options here. One is if you're not eating breakfast, eat something - basically exactly as you'd fix dawn phenomenon. You can retrain your body.
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