For those who are monitoring their blood sugar (which frankly we think almost everyone should do at least for one CGM sensor cycle which is two weeks to see what your pattern is, what foods trigger you, etc), one of the parameters measure is “time in range.”
What is time in range?
There is a “good” glucose level, which varies from person to person. For nondiabetics, that range is 70 – 140. For prediabetics, that number is 70-180. Above 180 is seen in diabetics. Time in range is the percentage of time your blood sugar level is in your target glucose range.
CGMs don’t actually measure the blood glucose directly like a fingerstick does. Instead, they look at the level in the interstitial fluid surrounding the cells below your skin. Because it is not measuring blood glucose directly, the sensor glucose readings will lag behind the blood readings a little- they make the analogy CGMs monitor the caboose of the train, not the front of the train.
Our CGM monitor (we are currently using the Freestyle Libre 3) states the standard target range is 70-180 mg/dl. If you are trying to improve further, try to keep closer to 140 as the upper number.
FOR EVERY 10% INCREASE YOU SPEND IN TIME IN RANGE, YOU LOWER YOUR HBA1C BY 0.8%.
If you are going out of range too high, see our blogs on methods you can do to try to lower your glucose readings. There are many ways to improve. BLOGS