What should your BG reading be before bed?

I've never been told an exact figure, but through trial and error, I've found that I need to be around the 9-10 mark, as I usually seem to drop about 4 or 5 overnight.

Mine are usually about 6.5-7 and I wake up at about 5.5-6.5
I think it depends on ur background insulin dose, absorption rate and whether u have done much exercise before bed

Hi @LauraC27
the most important thing is to get a number that is right for you.
you should look at basal testing to make sure your background insulin is set correctly
here is a link http://www.salforddiabetescare.co.uk/index2.php?nav_id=1007

if your basal is set correctly you should be able to go to bed between 5.5 - 6.5 and wake up in the same sort of range in the morning.
i currently aim for a bed time BG of 5.5-6.0 and am confident of not going hypo overnight.

Like @himtoo says. Once your basal is right, you shouldn't need to go to bed high to keep from going low overnight. Getting basal right is really important. Read up about it. If you wake high, it may just be the Dawn Phenomenon and you may need a correction dose in the morning. (I do.)

I go to bed between 85 and 100. I dose basal accordingly, between 2 and 3 units. 2 keeps me the same and 3 will usually lower me about 15 points. 85 is my magic number, the one I aim for at night and during the day.

My diabetes nurse has also told me to go to bed having a blood sugar of, at least, an 8 and I believe that this is a good advice.
Here is my thinking why I believe that this advice is good.

I hear about diabetics who can achieve this wonderful numbers, where they go to bed at a 5 or a 6 and their fasting is around the level. This is brilliant! However, what they are not telling us, sometimes, is the rest of the story, which goes like this:
1. They are men so, they do not have to persevere the insecurity of hormonal imbalances that can happen to us women (not only during the month but also during 24hrs.)
2. They are women who have been through menopause so, they have no hormonal imbalances coming to play.
3. They are of age 50-60+, they may not work and have a very sedentary lifestyle, having no other responsibility really other than watching telly and checking their blood glucose every one hour or so.
4. They are on a pump hence, can adjust their insulin needs very frequently.

Or, they may have a general sedentary lifestyle and have chosen to not challenge their diabetes in anyway. I have a friend like that… She does office work, does not exercise, takes her car to go everywhere, spends evening on a couch watching telly and has her groceries delivered… Obviously, she can have the luxury and can take a risk to sleep having a blood sugar of 6mmols considering her background insulin is calculated correctly. On the contrary, I met on the DAFNE course (that I attended recently) a diabetic who is training for the London marathon. He lowers his insulin intake before and after his exercise and he has a Mars bar prior exercise or jelly babies during exercise to keep him leveled... he still gets nocturnal hypoglycemias despite he is adjusting his insulin and is treating during exercise.. I hate to imagine what would happen if his pre-bed blood glucose was 5 mmols...

I am not suggesting that there aren't any diabetices out there who do manage the fantastic levels we have in mind. I am certain they are but, it takes a lot of practice and artistic insulin handling to achieve it.

And then, there are people like myself where many, many factors can affect our blood sugar.

Hormonal imbalances, activity and exercise (even running after your kids or playing with them can be considered an exercise) stress at work or at school (exams, bullying, etc.), delayed onset hypoglycemia from exercise, weather conditions, altitude when travelling, air cabin pressure when flying (which tends to drop blood glucose like a stone) and a bunch of other things which don’t came to mind at the moment.

Also, you may not be on a pump… so, once you inject your insulin… that’s it, it’s in there.
Therefore, a blood glucose of 8mmols is a nice and safe number (considering that you will also check overnight.) Plus, I saw at your profile that you are a lovely young lady and, I assume, you want to enjoy your life, have fun, party, be sociable, have sex , travel etc.

I am on Levemir twice a day. My evening Levemir is well balanced and usually keeps me leveled. Yesterday late afternoon I had some (un-intended) activity (Christmas shopping with a friend). I usually have delayed onset hypoglycemia (so I see the effects of exercise, at least, 5 hours after I finish activity). I went to bed at 24:00 with an 11.8

03:00 I was at a 9.1
Fasting was 5.8 and dropping (according to my Freestyle Libre)

I don’t want to think what kind of a night I would have if I went to bed at a level of 5-6mmols as some diabetics are suggesting.

What I suggest, instead, is to listen what people say but, choose to do what is the safe thing for you.

Love and hugs and wishes for a season full of merriment!
Regards
Josephine

Just to add to others' comments, my DSN advised me to target 7-9 when I go to bed.

If I'm less than this, I eat a couple of oat cakes to give myself a (slow release) carb/BG boost.

It is a individual choice as to what bg level you go to bed on, but as himtoo says earlier if your basal dose/rates are set at the right amount then you can be more confident at going to bed on lower levels than 8 @LauraC27, I try and keep below 7 but above 5.5 if possible, but my bg levels are quite stable over night (I'm using a insulin pump).

And you too @LauraC27

I try to go to sleep when my reading is between 5 and 6 mmol/L. I really don't like the idea of being above the 'normal' mark and asleep for 6-8 hours of my day :/ So i wanna see less then 6.5mmol/L if its higher then that then i inject to bring it down and keep a snack bedside incase i do go low and wake up.

I am a SUPER light sleeper so its never been an issue for me to wake up, check, grab a bit of snack and back to bed haha

@Bluemarine Josephine - i fall into the 'I am a man' category here, and also the 'on a pump' category. However when i was not on a pump i still made sure i was <6.5mmol/L before bed,

I'd echo Diamattic. If I'm above 7mmol I'll take a correction injection, I hate the thought of being above 7mmol all night (and I know that my Lantus is at the right dose to keep me steady).

LauraC27 said:

What should my BG level be before going to bed? I usually make sure it's 8...
But i don't know who told me that was a good number.. or where i got that information from thinking about it! haha... is it correct?

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My Diabetes nurse advised me not to go to bed if you are below 8, I suffer from anxiety, which is due to mainly worrying about my blood sugars. I feel comfortable going to bed at 8. I am on levemir twice a day, one of those doses is before bed , I seem to either drop loads in the night or go really high in the night. Does anybody else have this problem ?

claire91 said:

My Diabetes nurse advised me not to go to bed if you are below 8, I suffer from anxiety, which is due to mainly worrying about my blood sugars. I feel comfortable going to bed at 8. I am on levemir twice a day, one of those doses is before bed , I seem to either drop loads in the night or go really high in the night. Does anybody else have this problem ?

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I suggest you speak to your diabetes team about your erratic night-time readings as you shouldn't be swinging from high to low, maybe a change of basal insulin would help resolve your issues, do ask about Tresiba as it's a newish basal insulin that came on the market around two years ago and is injected once a day but is said to last up to 42 hours.

But you have to keep in mind that other factors can effect your bg levels through the night like your bolus dose from your evening meal (if it's still active), exercise, alcohol and meals that are high in fat to name a few.

If it's below 6 I'll eat a slow release snack before bed. If it's above 9 I'll correct or else I won't be able to sleep anyway. I keep emergency food next to my bed just in case. I often have a snack a couple hours before I go to sleep as I tend to stay up quite late after my dinner so without that snack it would often be over 12 hours without any food. I used to get frequent morning hypos when I didn't snack. Plus I find my lantus tends to drop my BGL more than it should within the first few hours of my taking it which is another reason I snack at that time.

If I go to bed on anything less than a 10 then I woke up in the low 2s. Even slow release pasta/rice, etc doesn't change that figure.

Hi LauraC27, further to other replies you've had on this subject. May I tell you of my experiences? I used to go to bed with a BG of around 9mmols and wake the following morning with one of 4.5 - 5.5 on Lantus using 6 units. However I now don't take any insulin at all now unless my BG is 11mmols, when my native insulin needs a top-up. It all depends on what sort of day you've had, whether you've had an active day or a relaxing day. Stress also plays a crucial part in BG control, i.e. the more stessed you get the more It affects your personal BG level. I found that if you have a healthy diet rich in fruit and veg helps also. Hope this answers your question.

60yrs old male
diagnosed T2 2002 due to steriod damage for kidney transplant in 1998.
weight 61.2kg
Hba1c 5.
current BG 6.5 to 8.7mmols. without insulin now for 2 weeks.

kidneyalan said:

Hi LauraC27, further to other replies you've had on this subject. May I tell you of my experiences? I used to go to bed with a BG of around 9mmols and wake the following morning with one of 4.5 - 5.5 on Lantus using 6 units. However I now don't take any insulin at all now unless my BG is 11mmols, when my native insulin needs a top-up. It all depends on what sort of day you've had, whether you've had an active day or a relaxing day. Stress also plays a crucial part in BG control, i.e. the more stessed you get the more It affects your personal BG level. I found that if you have a healthy diet rich in fruit and veg helps also. Hope this answers your question.

60yrs old male
diagnosed T2 2002 due to steriod damage for kidney transplant in 1998.
weight 61.2kg
Hba1c 5.
current BG 6.5 to 8.7mmols. without insulin now for 2 weeks.

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It also depends on whether you are T1 or T2 @kidneyalan . The OP is T1, so would struggle with this approach!

tim2000s said:

It also depends on whether you are T1 or T2 @kidneyalan . The OP is T1, so would struggle with this approach!

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True, but I can only go by my own experiences Tim2000s. Just trying to be helpful on the subject. I realise that every patient is different and will have a different experience to me.