Understanding Glucose Spikes
A “spike” is a casual term for a sharp rise in glucose. It has no clinical definition.
How Levels defines a spike
The Levels app labels a spike when your glucose exceeds 109 mg/dL and the rise from the start of the increase to the peak is +30 mg/dL.
For example, if your pre-meal glucose is 95 mg/dL and your peak is 130 mg/dL, that would be labeled a spike. If your glucose goes from 100 mg/dL to 125 mg/dL, that would not.
What does a spike mean?
The shape of your glucose curve matters. In general, we look at three components when analyzing a spike:
- Glucose increase: the absolute change between baseline and peak
- Glucose slope: how quickly your glucose rose
- Area under the curve: how long your glucose stayed elevated before returning to baseline
A spike does not necessarily indicate an issue. Given a large enough carbohydrate load, most people will see a spike.
What can be more telling is how high your glucose goes and how long it stays elevated. An optimal response typically returns to baseline within 90 to 120 minutes.
A slower return may reflect reduced insulin sensitivity (insulin resistance), which can be a precursor to pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
What should I do about a spike?
Metabolic health is about long-term trends, not single incidents. Many factors can affect your glucose response day to day, including poor sleep, recent exercise, elevated glucose from a previous meal, stress, time of day, and overall health.
When interpreting glucose rises, consider:
- The shape of your curves and how often you see sharp rises that take a long time to return to baseline
- Which foods tend to cause spikes (including refined flours and “hidden” sugars)
- Lifestyle context like sleep and stress
- Your overall health
Learn more
- What is a blood sugar spike, and why does it matter?
- How can I bring down blood sugar levels now?
- The 7 factors that significantly impact your blood sugar
Gentle reminder: Levels is a general health and wellness app. If you have questions or concerns about your individual metabolic health data, please speak to your doctor.