Luckily, we live in the reality where every human who is interested in how their own body, and not the one of some random mouse, deals with blood sugar, can order a relatively inexpensive (for the benefits it provides) device — a continuous glucose monitor — and gather all the data they need to see what helps controlling the sugar level, and what does not. Using a CGM was a truly life changing experience for me, and I recommend trying it for everyone interested.
I’ve tried CGMs multiple times and didn’t have any life changing experiences.
I did have a couple low and high readings, but even with a food log and going back to re-eat the exact same meal I got completely different results.
I think the exercise induced changes that help regulate blood sugar aren’t going to show up on the time scale of ordering a couple CGMs. It has to be a sustained lifestyle choice.
Took me about half a year to drop my baseline levels, so, of course, not instant and not within "a couple" CGMs, but "a couple" was enough for me to understand the trends.
This is simply not true and assumes all nondiabetics are current with their checkups and bloodwork. A third of all people are prediabetic and most of them don't know it. That's the opposite of unlikely.
Most start out nondiabetic (except type 1) and we live in a world with constant and significant cultural pressure guiding choices towards diabetes. Keeping an eye on it will catch when a nondiabetic is straying too far.
Glucose will still spike in nondiabetics when they mindlessly overindulge on carbs and can drop to borderline hypoglycemia when fasting for too long and/or overexerted. Tons of people take risks experimenting with "intermittent fasting" or other questionable diet choices. There are tons of people who incorrectly assume it's "just their mental health" and that there is no biological basis for feeling off until they have their A1C confirmed.
Even A1C can be misleading if there are nutritional deficiencies or the patient is type 1. You do not want to find out you're type 1 by surprise (passing out on a hot day in a traffic jam or something).
I used Libre 3; you can get different ones without a prescription online. You can easily get a prescription (in the US) if you get diagnosed with Type 2 based on your A1C numbers, but ordering a CGM online without any prescription is not a problem at all. Wearing it for 2-4 weeks is usually enough to learn a lot about your relationship with sugar.
I used Stelo from Dexcom with my Oura Ring, no prescription. I didn't really learn much, other than occasionally realizing I was cranky because of low blood sugar.
Pretty much everyone doesn't want to do that unless they have a doctor telling them it's either that or death. A GCM might nudge them into making real changes, telling them to "just lift and run" will most definitely not.
