How to test your blood sugar levels

Blood sugar monitoring is an essential part of managing your diabetes, which is why it’s important to understand how to test your blood sugar levels. If your blood sugar (or “blood glucose”) reaches levels that are too high or too low, your mood, well-being, and even your long-term health can be drastically affected. Thankfully, you have many options to help you monitor and check your blood sugar levels.

You’ll typically find 3 different types of blood glucose meters or glucose monitors, including:

• Blood glucose meters are devices that use test strips to analyze a small drop of blood from your fingertips, providing accurate measurements in seconds. 
• Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are devices implanted in or attached to your body for continuous monitoring of glucose levels.
• Hybrid monitors called “flash glucose meters” (FGMs) provide instant readings and continuously monitor blood glucose levels.

As recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), routinely checking your blood glucose levels can help you effectively manage your diabetes by giving you insights into how your meals, medications, and activities are affecting your blood sugar.⁽¹⁾

Routine or daily blood glucose testing

If you’re using an insulin pump or insulin injections throughout the day, the ADA recommends that you test your blood glucose levels multiple times daily. Your healthcare team will recommend when to test your blood sugar levels if you’re taking a different kind of medication. 

Based on your current health, age, and level of activity, as well as the time of day (and other potential factors), you and your healthcare team can determine when you should be checking your blood sugar levels. Suggestions when to test your blood sugar may include:

• Before each meal
• 1 or 2 hours after a meal
• Before a bedtime snack
• In the middle of the night
• Before physical activity, to see if you need a snack
• During and after physical activity
• If you think your blood sugar might be too high, too low, or falling
• When you're sick or under stress

What you can learn from routine blood glucose testing

When you check your blood sugar levels on a consistent basis, you’ll not only learn how your body is doing at that specific moment, but you’ll be able to track what your normal glucose levels might be, and review your overall health trends. 

These findings can help you answer some important questions, such as:

• Are your medications working properly?
• How does the type or amount of food you eat affect your blood sugar?
• How does activity or stress affect your blood sugar?

Structured blood glucose testing

Using a structured testing approach to check your blood glucose levels in addition to routine or daily testing can offer deeper, more targeted information that can enable you to better manage your diabetes. You’ll be able to determine if your blood glucose levels are in a safe range, and understand how the decisions you’re making in your daily life are connected to your blood sugar.

By simply performing additional tests over a short period at specific times of the day, you can: 

• Discover how to best utilize your glucose level numbers
• See how certain activities can affect your blood sugar
• Problem-solve around your blood glucose level highs and lows
• Identify your blood sugar patterns
• Work with your healthcare team to decide if any adjustments to your current treatment plan are needed

Pattern management

If you find that your HbA1C result is rising despite your best efforts, or if you just don't feel as well as you'd like, you might consider trying the mySugr app, which allows you to track your blood sugar result patterns right on your smartphone. This easy-to-use app connects directly to your blood glucose meter, automatically logging your blood sugar readings into the app. No need to bother flipping through pages anymore! Everything’s available to edit in a few taps in the app.

Plus, with the mySugr Report feature, you can access your data anytime, anywhere, and even send an overview directly to your healthcare team. Secure, reliable data sharing means less hassle and more meaningful insights for you and your healthcare team, supporting better therapy outcomes! ^(2-4)

Before-and-after testing

If you don’t have a smartphone, or simply don’t want to use yours to track your blood sugar result patterns, you might consider using the Accu-Chek Testing in Pairs tool. It's an easy-to-use, printable tracker that helps you see changes in your blood glucose with before-and-after testing. In just 7 days, you can see the effect that a specific meal, type of exercise, or other kind of event has on your blood sugar.

To check your blood sugar level, you’ll need your blood glucose meter, one test strip, and your lancing device. You can watch this helpful step-by-step video or follow the simple instructions below to help you learn how to properly set up and use the Accu‑Chek® Guide Me system to obtain blood glucose results.  

The blood sugar testing process is similar for many meters, and typically follows these steps: 

1. Choose a finger to take a blood sample from– it’s best to alternate between fingers as they can become more sensitive over time.
2. Wash and dry your hands, preferably with warm water which may help increase blood flow.⁽⁵⁾
3. Turn on your meter and prepare a test strip as outlined in your device’s user manual— many Accu‑Chek meters turn on automatically when a strip is inserted.
4. Prepare your lancing device according to the instructions in its user manual, then lance your fingertip or other approved site to get a drop of blood.⁽⁶⁾
5. Touch and hold the test strip opening to the drop of blood until it has absorbed enough blood to begin the test.
6. View your blood sugar test result, then take the proper steps, based on your healthcare team’s recommendations, if your blood sugar is high or low.
7. Record your blood glucose results by writing them in a journal or logbook, holding them in the meter's memory, or downloading them to an app or computer so you can review and analyze them later.
8. Always discard the used lancets in an appropriate way and ensure that they cannot cause injury by using a sharps container.
    

With so many blood glucose meters to choose from, it’s important to understand which one best fits your specific needs. Here are several questions to ask yourself when you’re making this decision:

• Are you concerned about consistent accuracy? You’ll want a blood glucose meter and test strips that have undergone extensive testing, like the Roche quality control processes, to ensure the testing results are valid. Learn more about our accuracy commitment.
• Do you use blood glucose results to dose your insulin? The Accu-Chek Guide meter sends results directly to an app on your smartphone that includes a bolus, or insulin bolus, calculator.⁽⁷⁾
• Is time a factor in your testing consistency? Choose a system that syncs your data wirelessly, without you having to manually enter results, which can save you time with every test. You may also want to consider a blood glucose meter that offers rapid results, makes it easier to handle test strips, simplifies lancing or dosing, and requires absolutely no coding.
• Would you like to reduce the pain of testing? You might consider a lancing device that’s specifically designed for comfort, such as the Accu-Chek Softclix lancing device, which features precision-guided technology designed to reduce pain, as well as thin-gauge, bevel-cut lancets help ensure smoother entry. Plus, you’ll get 11 customizable depth settings that make it easier to get the right amount of blood the first time.
• Will you want to track your blood sugar results with an app or on a computer? Most blood sugar monitors have built-in memories, and many can sync or transfer data directly to your computer or an app on your smartphone, such as the mySugr app.

If anxiety related to checking your blood sugar or the potential pain you might experience is keeping you from regularly checking your blood sugar, you’re not alone. Studies have shown that fear and anxiety, along with pain, are the main reasons individuals refrain from regularly checking their blood glucose.^(8,9) So how can you make this less of a challenge in your diabetes management?

Choose a less-painful lancing device

It’s not surprising that your lancing device may be contributing to your testing pain. That's why we've worked hard to ensure that Accu-Chek lancing devices keep discomfort to a minimum. To do that, our lancing devices feature:

• 11 customizable depth settings to help match your skin type
• Precisely manufactured, beveled, thin-gauge lancets to ensure smoother entry

You can also reduce pain by using a fresh lancet for every test. Today's lancets are so tiny that just a single use can bend or dull the tips. This can make them hurt your fingertips more as you reuse them.

5 tips for reducing fingertip pain

You can make blood sugar testing more comfortable and help ensure that you get a good, usable sample on the first try by following these 5 easy steps:

1. Make sure that your hands are clean and dry. Washing your hands with warm water and hanging your hand down at your side for a few minutes before you test may increase blood flow.⁽⁵⁾
2. Lance on the side of the fingertip rather than the pad. The pad of your fingertip—where your fingerprints are most visible—are some of the most sensitive parts of your body.⁽¹⁰⁾
3. Keep the skin taut by pressing the lancing device firmly against the skin.
4. Don't go deeper than necessary. Select the shallowest penetration depth that allows you to get a large enough blood sample for your meter. Fortunately, most of today's meters require just a tiny drop.
5. Alternate fingers daily, so each one gets a chance to rest.

You may also want to consider testing beyond the fingertip. If you and your healthcare team agree that it's right for you, you may experience less pain if you use your palm, forearm or upper arm for routine testing.⁽⁶⁾

Generally speaking, the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) recommends the following targets for  blood sugar levels for most non-pregnant adults: ⁽¹¹⁾

• HbA1c: Less than 7%
• HbA1c may also be reported as eAG: Less than 154 mg/dL
• Before a meal (preprandial plasma glucose): 80–130 mg/dL
• 1-2 hours after beginning of the meal (postprandial plasma glucose): Less than 180 mg/dL

Of course, your range is personalized to you, because it’s based on your own health, age, level of activity, and other potential individual factors. Keep in mind that your normal glucose level is a range you'd like to stay within, not a single number. Work with your doctor or diabetes educator to create glycemic goals that are appropriate for you and your body.

It’s a fairly common experience for people with diabetes to have blood glucose results that might be out of range every now and then. If you see a pattern of highs or lows in your blood sugar levels that are outside your target range, you may want to ask yourself:

• Did I eat at an unusual time, have a larger or smaller portion, or try a new food?
• Did I have more or less physical activity than usual?
• Did I forget to take my medication, take it at the wrong time, or take too little or too much?
• Am I taking a new medication?
• Am I experiencing stress about something in my life?
• Do I have an infection or an illness?
• Did I drink alcohol?

Any of these factors can have an impact on your blood glucose numbers. If you're making changes to your lifestyle, or if you can't figure out why you've been out of range, talk to your doctor, nurse, diabetes educator, or healthcare team.

¹ American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes—2016; Abridged for primary care providers [position statement]. Diabetes Care. 2016;34(1): 3-21. Available at: http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/34/1/3.full.pdf. Accessed June 1, 2023.

² Polonsky WH, et al. Structured Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose Significantly Reduces A1C Levels in Poorly Controlled, Noninsulin-Treated Type 2 Diabetes: Results from the Structured Testing Program study. Diabetes Care. 2011;34(2):262-267. Accessed June 1, 2023.

³ Mora P, Buskirk A, Lyden M, et al. Use of a Novel, Remotely Connected Diabetes Management System Is Associated With Increased Treatment Satisfaction, Reduced Diabetes Distress, and Improved Glycemic Control in Individuals With Insulin-Treated Diabetes: First Results From the Personal Diabetes Management Study. Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics Vol. 19, No. 12, 2017. 19(12):715-722. Available at https://doi.org/10.1089/dia.2017.0206. Accessed July 18, 2024.

⁴ Debong F, Mayer H, and Kober J. Real-World Assessments of mySugr Mobile Health App. Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, June 2019. Available at http://doi.org/10.1089/dia.2019.0019. Accessed July 18, 2024.

⁵ Joslin Diabetes Center. Tips for more pain-free blood glucose monitoring. Available at: https://www.joslin.org/info/tips_for_more_pain_free_blood_glucose_monito.... Accessed June 1, 2023.

⁶ Talk with your healthcare professional before deciding if alternate site testing is right for you.

⁷ The Bolus Advisor feature requires setup and activation by a healthcare professional.

⁸ Aronson R. The role of comfort and discomfort in insulin therapy. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2012 Aug; 14(8): 741–747. Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3409452/. Accessed June 1, 2023.

⁹ Burge MR. Lack of compliance with home blood glucose monitoring predicts hospitalization in diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2001;24(8). Available at: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/24/8/1502.full. Accessed June 1, 2023

¹⁰ New Scientist. Fingertips and forehead are most sensitive to pain. Available at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25688-fingertips-and-forehead-are.... Accessed June 1, 2023

¹¹ American Diabetes Association https://diabetes.org/healthy-living/medication-treatments/blood-glucose-testing-and-control/checking-your-blood-sugar Accessed June 1, 2023