For my self, I can go to bed with a reading of 75 mg/dl, check it at 3 am and it's 127 mg/dl and than after I wake up it's 177 mg/dl. I tried a snack at bed time, a light meal with no change, so it looks like it's not a over night low and a re-bound effect. It just starts rise when I go to bed, my over checks before and after a meal are fine during the day and my last A1C was 5.6. What could be the cause of this?
Q: Why does Blood glucose rise during the night?
Answers (1)
5/18/11 3:50pm
It's called Dawn Phenomenon. The main cause of those high blood sugars is because during the early, early morning hours, our bodies start producing significant amounts of hormones we need like cortisol, glucagon and natural growth hormones.
Not only do these hormones tend to blunt our insulin sensitivity, but hormones like glucagon tell our body to release the "glycogen" in your liver. The "glycogen" is then converted to GLUCOSE so that your body can get energy while it's been fasting all night.
This process actually happens in a NON-diabetic too, but their bodies automatically produce more insulin to balance their blood sugars. It's not a bad thing, it's just a natural human process
Here's some blogs on the subject:
http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/1388/taming-dawn
http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/17579/dawn-phenomenon
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By Retired— Last Modified: 05/19/11, First Published: 05/06/11
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