How often should you perform a finger-prick test?
Performing finger-prick glucose tests in a structured way will help you see patterns and understand what needs to be changed to achieve better sugar levels. Structured testing will be more useful then performing random testing.
Here are some examples of how to structure your finger-prick tests throughout your day.
Discuss with your healthcare team which schedule is most suitable for you, and how many days a week to perform the monitoring.
Your healthcare team will also adjust the frequency of monitoring based on your individual needs (eg. Based on your risk of low blood glucose, type of medications and need for medication adjustment).
Work out your pre- and post-meal glucose targets with your healthcare team.
Other situations when you should perform a blood sugar checks:
- When you are sick
You should also test more frequently (such as hourly, or 2 to 4-hourly) when you are feeling sick. Refer to
Managing diabetes during sickness for more information.
- Before and during exercise or other critical tasks, especially if you are prone to low blood glucose attacks
- When you have symptoms of
low blood glucose (such as giddiness, hunger and sweating)