For users who need help managing their blood sugar levels, having somewhere to track it alongside their daily health behaviors like activity, nutrition, sleep, or stress, and other biometrics such as weight, can be extremely valuable in learning new strategies and helping make improvements in their health management. Keeping blood sugar in control is also critical in reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and other complications. And that’s why Fitbit added new blood glucose tracking to its mobile app.
Recently launched in the Fitbit app to all US users in English, blood glucose tracking helps to manage your blood glucose levels by logging or importing your levels and seeing your trends all in one place. Set personalized ranges so you can see when you are outside your target range to better identify important changes and get friendly reminders to log so you can look at trends over time with easy-to-read graphs.
Plus, with your details in one place, you can see how your blood glucose levels change throughout the day and are impacted by physical activity, food, sleep, and other lifestyle choices. Then as you improve your long-term behaviors and optimize weight (for type 2 diabetes), see how your trends related to your blood glucose levels change over time. Keep reading to learn more about the exciting and free feature.
How does it work?
Head to the Fitbit app to start logging your blood glucose levels and related symptoms to see trends in your data. You can also connect your OneTouch Reveal app from LifeScan (other integrations coming soon) with your Fitbit app to automatically import your blood glucose levels.
In the app, you set a personalized range to know when you’re above, below, or within your set range and to help you see how your daily habits may impact your blood glucose levels. You can opt to receive friendly Fitbit app reminders to log your blood glucose levels to make your experience more consistent and identify trends with easy-to-read graphs that show your stats all in one place.
You can also enable your Fitbit device to receive app notifications from Fitbit to see these reminders right on your wrist. Plus, for Fitbit Premium + Health Coaching participants, tracking your blood glucose in the Fitbit app can help your Health Coach learn more about your behaviors and adjust your action plan to help keep you accountable.
You can add this feature to your Today screen by going to the Fitbit app under Discover > Health & Fitness Stats.
OneTouch Reveal app users can connect their app and meter to the Fitbit app by selecting the settings icon within the Blood Glucose tile.
Why does it matter?
When you eat food, your body breaks down carbohydrates into a simple sugar called glucose, which is absorbed into the blood. Blood glucose (or blood sugar) is the main sugar found in your blood. It’s an energy source that fuels your body-keeping your muscles moving, brain thinking, and heart pumping. But when blood glucose levels are too high, most commonly with diabetes, it can cause damage to blood vessels and increase the risk of hypertension, stroke and heart attacks.
Tracking your blood glucose, if you have diabetes or if your healthcare provider recommends it for other reasons, is important to help you keep your levels in your target range. It can allow you to learn your body’s unique patterns and how behaviors like diet, activity, and sleep and other factors like stress and medication adherence are affecting your levels.
Managing your blood glucose can be stressful, but Fitbit’s Blood Glucose Tracking feature helps to make it easier by blending it into a cohesive experience with your other health behaviors. In addition to the ability to track blood glucose, Fitbit Premium members gradually will have access to seeing how often their glucose levels fall within their target range over a 30 day period, along with correlations between when they take a reading and their levels as well trends in this data. Members can also share their blood glucose levels as part of their Wellness Report with their healthcare provider to help your care team offer more personalized guidance for your care.