Blood Sugar Chart
What is the normal range for blood sugar – your guide to blood glucose levels.
What is Blood Sugar?
Blood sugar, or blood glucose, needs to be in the right range for you to be healthy. At least some glucose is necessary for your muscle, liver, and some other cells to use as fuel so they can function. A blood sugar chart can help you remember which levels you should opt for.
Too much or too little glucose, though, is dangerous. Too little sugar, or hypoglycemia, can make you weak or even lead to loss of consciousness. On the other hand, hyperglycemia, or too much glucose in your blood, can also become an emergency or lead to diabetes complications.
Different Levels and What They Mean
The ranges of safe levels of blood glucose depend on factors such as what time of day it is and when you last ate. Safe levels of blood sugar are high enough to supply your organs with the sugar they need, but low enough to prevent symptoms of hyperglycemia or complications of diabetes. Dangerous levels of blood glucose are outside of this range.
The target levels can also vary if you have diabetes. For example, if you are diabetic and are monitoring your blood sugar, you might get a reading of 65 mg/dl. That is considered to be mild hypoglycemia, and you would be wise to eat 15 grams of fast-acting carbohydrates and retest your blood sugar in 15 minutes.
If you were not diabetic, you probably would not know that your sugar was low because you would not test and because you would not symptoms, and you would not act. That is fine because your body is capable, under normal circumstances, of raising your blood glucose to healthy levels when needed, even if you have not eaten.
What is the Normal Range for Blood Sugar?
You might want to measure your blood sugar before meals to get a baseline, and then two hours after your meal to measure your normal blood sugar level. Your doctor might also suggest measuring blood sugar before bed to be sure you have been eating well throughout the day and can go to sleep with peace of mind.
These are considered within the range of normal:
- Less than 140 mg/dl if you do not have diabetes.
- Less than 180 mg/dl if you have diabetes.
Blood Sugar Levels in the Morning
The best time to check blood sugar levels in the morning is right when you wake up and before you eat anything. This gives you a glimpse of what may be happening overnight, and it gives you a baseline for the day.
These are goal levels, according to Joslin.
- Under 70 mg/dl if you do not have diabetes.
- 70 to 130 mg/dl if you have diabetes.
The dawn effect can often lead to a high morning measurement in diabetes. This is your body's tendency to get ready for the day by raising blood sugar by increasing levels of counter-regulatory hormones the ones that counteract insulin. With diabetes, you do not have the capacity to counterbalance this rise in blood sugar, so levels can be dangerously high.
Ways to lower your morning blood sugar value include:
- Eating dinner earlier.
- Checking your medications making sure you are taking them properly and asking your doctor if they are correct.
- Going for a walk after dinner.
- Including protein with your dinner.
Blood Sugar Levels after Eating
Many foods have types of carbohydrates called starches and sugars. When you eat foods with these types of carbohydrates, your body breaks them down into glucose, which is a type of simple sugar, and releases the glucose into your bloodstream. Aside from glucose produced by your liver, food is the main source of blood glucose.
After eating, your blood sugar levels rise. They rise more when you eat more carbohydrates, when you do not eat fiber, fat, or protein with your carbs, and when you eat certain types of carbohydrates, such as refined sugars and starches.
These are target values.
| When Measured | Goals for Healthy Adults | Goals with Diabetes |
| Before lunch, dinner, or a snack | Less than 110 mg/dl | 70-130 mg/dl |
| 2 hours after you eat | Less than 140 mg/dl | Less than 180 mg/dl |
| Before bedtime | Less than 120 mg/dl | 90-150 mg/dl |
Hemoglobin Chart
Hemoglobin is the oxygen-carrying protein in your red blood cells, but it is highly relevant to blood sugar levels. Sugar in your blood attaches to hemoglobin, creating what is called glycated hemoglobin, or A1C. High blood glucose levels lead to more hemoglobin being glycated.
Measuring your A1C is an alternative to measuring fasting blood glucose. Measuring blood glucose directly with a finger prick or a blood draw at your doctor's office lets you know your blood sugar at that moment, while the A1C value you get provides an estimate of your average blood sugar levels over the past 3 months.
For example, if your A1c value is 7.8 (a reading between 140-199 mg/dl) would be considered high.
| Glycated Hemoglobin (A1C) Value | Estimated Average Glucose (EAG) |
| 5.6% (Highest normal value) | 114 mg/dl |
| 5.7% (Prediabetes) | 117 mg/dl |
| 6% | 126 mg/dl |
| 6.4% (Diabetes) | 137 mg/dl |
| 7% (Goal in diabetes) | 154 mg/dl |
| 8% | 183 mg/dl |
| 9% | 212 mg/dl |
| 10% | 240 mg/dl |
Printable Blood Sugar Chart
A blood sugar chart showing goal values can help you quickly gauge how you are doing with your monitoring. This chart shows what to aim for throughout the day if you have diabetes or not.
Blood Sugar Level Chart by Age
Blood sugar levels tend to rise with age due to an increase in insulin resistance and decrease in insulin sensitivity. In one study, each extra decade of age was linked to a 2.7 mg/dl increase in fasting glucose, and a 4.5 mg/dl increase in 2-hour post-prandial (post-meal) glucose levels.
How to Reduce Blood Sugar
You can take steps to reduce blood sugar as soon as you find out that it is high. This is how to reduce blood sugar if you have a single high reading that may be dangerous:
Ask your doctor what to do if you missed a dose of insulin or another diabetes medication.
Ask your doctor if your medication type(s) and dose(s) are still appropriate for you.
Drink water to dilute the sugar.
Exercise (if safe) for 15 minutes.
Eat a small protein snack, such as a hard-boiled egg, ½ ounce of peanuts or pistachios or other nuts, ½ cup of beans, or ½ cup of plain yogurt or cottage cheese.
If you have chronically high blood sugar in prediabetes or diabetes:
Exercise regularly, assuming your doctor approves it.
Lose weight if you are overweight or obese.
Eat a higher proportion of vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, healthy fats, and fruit.
Limit sugary foods and beverages, fried foods, refined starches, and processed and fatty red meats.
Beware of starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes, which can spike your blood sugar. Check out our guide of which veggies to avoid!
| Time and Situation | 117 mg/dlGoal for Non-Diabetics | Goal for Diabetics |
| First thing in the morning (fasting before breakfast) | < 100 mg/dl | 70 - 130 mg/dl |
| Before lunch, dinner, and snacks | < 110 mg/dl | 70 - 130 mg/dl |
| Two hours after starting to eat a meal or snack | < 140 mg/dl | < 180 mg/dl |
| Before going to bed | < 120 mg/dl | 90- 150 mg/dl |