Levels Is Making Metabolism and Blood Glucose Tracking Accessible To Everyone
Levels has done something truly transformative: the company made continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) accessible to the general population and every day consumer.
In many circles, it seems the trend of bringing healthcare to the home and directly to the patient is continuing, but understanding metabolism and lifestyle habits through this new tech trend of smart, wearable devices adds another important component to enjoying improved health and well-being.
If you imagine your body as a well-oiled machine that needs to be maintained, the sources of fuel and nutrition that you provide it are paramount for its efficiency and optimization. The first step to achieving this is understanding how your body processes different types of foods – each person is different and there is no “one-size-fits-all” when it comes to health and nutrition.
However, getting a handle on the biochemical processes behind how food is broken down and used within the body can seem a daunting task for many, and even for those who understand it, it’s not always possible to monitor with the aid of tech. This is where Levels has done an great job continuing to iterate on their app and device user experience, adding more metrics and useful pieces of information.
Why should you care about blood glucose?
Continuous glucose monitoring doesn’t only provide value to the usual population of diabetics. Many athletes have also used similar technologies to understand how to keep their bodies at peak performance.
Unlike for heart rate variability where a high variability is thought to be ideal, for good metabolic health you want to achieve low glycemic variability – in other words, “steady” glucose levels. For the healthy adult, glucose levels should remain somewhere between 70 mg/dL to 110 mg/dL at all times, and post-meal glucose should not rise over 30 mg/dL. However, according to the American Diabetes Association, anything below 140 mg/dL is considered normal.
What are the risks of high blood glucose? For one, potential insulin resistance. Insulin is the hormone that helps shuttle glucose to cells for energy, and resistance to insulin can ultimately result in prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. However, consistently high blood glucose levels can also lead to other types of potentially damaging physiological stress to the body in the form of oxidative stress, inflammation, and glycation — all of which contribute to chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, and cancer.
In the short-term, big changes in sugar levels — that “sugar high” and “crash” people talk about — can result in feelings of anxiety, fatigue, irritability, inability to focus, and other common neurological feedback symptoms. And sustained response of any physiological stress over time can perpetuate symptoms and create even more problems.
What if you are healthy? Well, part of a “well-being plan” often involves a healthy diet and getting the right amount of nutrition. However, the impact of any type of diet varies widely from person to person, because every person’s body will metabolize foods in different ways. Having access to a CGM makes these insights accessible to everyone, and not just those that are prescribed a CGM only after a clinical diagnosis.
These are just some of the reasons it is so important to have an understanding of blood glucose and have a grasp on your own metabolic health.
Source: medgadget.com
