Why You Need A Blood Glucose Meter

Diabetes is a chronic disease that can damage the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, eyes and nerves over time. Nearly 347 million people worldwide have diabetes, according to World Health Organization (WHO). Diabetes increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, blindness, foot ulcers and kidney failure. Overall, risk of dying is at least double among people with diabetes than people without diabetes.

Usually, people think that only diabetic patients need to monitor their blood glucose level to keep diabetes under control. However, most of the people have prediabetes, before they develop type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes is a condition in which blood glucose level is higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. As overweight, obesity and physical inactivity can cause diabetes, even healthy people need to monitor their blood glucose level frequently using a blood glucose meter to ensure their blood glucose level is normal.

Blood glucose meter is a handy tool that helps you to determine the blood glucose level in an accurate way. A wide range of factors such as stress, exercise, diet, alcohol ingestion and dawn phenomena can increase the level of sugar in blood. So, you need to monitor your blood glucose level on regular basis to avoid further complications.

As modern glucose meters are available in compact size, you can carry the glucose meter with you wherever you go without any difficulties. When performing the blood glucose level test using a glucose meter, you need to use quality diabetic test stripsto get accurate readings. When purchasing a glucose meter, majority of the cost will be due to diabetes test strips, so you need to pay attention to the cost of the blood glucose test strips when choosing a meter.

Important benefits of using blood glucose meter are listed below:

Better blood sugar control:

Using blood glucose meter after performing day-to-day activities such as eating, exercising and medication will help you to keep your blood glucose level under control.

Early detection of Hypoglycemia:

For all diabetics, low blood sugar or hypoglycemia is a concern. People on insulin therapy might get severe hypoglycemia and might become life threatening in some cases. Using a blood glucose meter, you might be able to detect even a drop in blood sugar level promptly before it becomes too complicated.

Less severe complications:

Determining your blood glucose level will let you to avoid medical emergency that might be caused as a result of high blood sugar level.

These are some important advantages of using a blood glucose meter on regular basis. When performing a blood glucose test using a glucose meter make sure you are using a new test strip every time to ensure you get accurate readings. Expired blood glucose test strips might give you incorrect readings. So, pay attention to the expiration date of your diabetic test strips when testing your blood.