5 Ways to Lower Your A1C Naturally
The content in this article should not be taken as medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider regarding your individual health needs.
Lowering the risk and frequency of complications is one of the many important parts of leading a healthy lifestyle for people living with diabetes.1 One focus is lowering their A1C over time. For most people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, the recommended A1C level is less than 7 percent without significant hypoglycemia.*2 While there are many lifestyle considerations that you can experiment with to lower your A1C, below are a few research-backed ways to lower your A1C naturally and help you create a more holistic diabetes management plan.
If you’re thinking of making big lifestyle changes, consult your healthcare team first. They can give you insights into what can help you manage your glucose levels and help you create a strategic plan that can stick with you.
1. Add Exercise To Your Day
According to the American Diabetes Association, exercise increases insulin sensitivity which helps your muscle cells use available insulin and uptake glucose.3 During physical activity, your muscles contract and relax, allowing your cells to take up glucose and use it for energy. This happens whether insulin is available or not, helping to lower glucose levels in the short term.3 Even breaking up prolonged periods of sitting can help improve glucose management!3
If you want to increase your physical activity to better manage your glucose levels, using data from a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system can help guide your decisions. Tracking your glucose levels before, during, and after exercise is one way to see the benefits of activity and how it works for your body. The length and type of activity (aerobic vs. resistance), as well as personal health factors, can also change the effect physical activity has on your glucose levels.³ If you experience hypoglycemia during or after exercise, treat it according to plans you’ve made with your healthcare team. Talk to your doctor before going forward with an exercise plan.
2. Reduce Your Stress
Research has shown that stress increases hormones in the body, which can impact glucose levels.⁴ When your body feels stressed, it enters into a “fight or flight” mode, which releases adrenaline and cortisol into your bloodstream and causes your heart, breathing, and respiratory rates to increase. This then causes your blood to be directed to muscles and limbs. During this response, your body may become unable to process the glucose released by your firing nerve cells. If this glucose can’t be converted into energy, it can build up in your bloodstream and cause glucose levels to increase.⁴ Long-term or ongoing stress has the potential to affect your glucose levels over time. Stress can also impact your mental and physical health, which can affect your diabetes management. If you are concerned that stress may be impacting your glucose levels, keeping a personal log to see when you are most stressed and how you feel during that time may be helpful. It also helps to check your glucose levels when you feel stressed to see if there are any significant changes.
It’s important to remember that everyone experiences some form and level of stress - it’s a natural part of life. When you’re feeling stressed, take some time to acknowledge the feelings and give yourself credit for just doing your best. You can also try creating a plan to help reduce or buffer your stress levels when they increase. Activities like meditation, breathing exercises, and light physical activity (like going for a walk) can be used to manage stress in your daily life. If you’ve recently noticed changes in your current stress levels, be sure to talk to your healthcare team about what steps you can take to manage them.
3. Pay Attention To Glucose Patterns
A study published in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology has found that paying attention to your glucose levels, and knowing what triggers them to change, can help you better manage your A1C.5 For example, if you find your glucose is highest during work hours, it may be a sign that work-induced stress is affecting your glucose levels. Similarly, if you notice your glucose is lower after a bike ride, hanging out with friends, or time spent doing activities you enjoy, that is a good indication that you may be able to help manage glucose with these activities. You can use the readings from a continuous glucose monitor, like the Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System, to view your glucose in the moment and gain insights into managing diabetes. If you notice any trends, try creating new strategies to tackle problem areas or increase behaviors that positively affect your glucose levels. Discuss any changes to your diabetes management plan with your healthcare team to ensure they’re right for you.
4. Track Your Time In Range
Time in range (TIR) is a diabetes management metric that allows you to see the percentage of hours in a day you spend within and outside of your target glucose range. TIR works alongside A1C to give you a clearer view of your glucose trends and diabetes management. By using TIR, you can better understand the way your glucose levels change throughout the day, which can help inform other lifestyle decisions such as exercise, eating habits, and stress management. Research has shown that people who spend more time in range feel better, healthier, and more confident to pursue their passions.6
When using the Dexcom CGM, glucose readings are uploaded to Dexcom Clarity, which shows you your recent TIR and other glucose metrics. The customizable alerts of Dexcom CGM can warn you when your glucose levels spike high or drop low so that you can make adjustments accordingly. For most people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, the target range is 70-180 mg/dL.2 If you want to start tracking your TIR, speak to your healthcare team about your target range and strategies to help you spend more time in it.
5. Use Technology To Inform Your Habits
Thanks to the innovative power of CGM, there are many ways to gain insights into your glucose levels and patterns. Dexcom CGM has been proven to lower A1C7,8,9 and provides real-time glucose data up to every five minutes. This added information allows you to gain additional insights into your glucose levels and what may be impacting them, which can help you proactively manage your diabetes.
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*Always consult with your doctor when setting A1C goals.
1 American Diabetes Association. Standards of Care in Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2023;46(Supp 1):S1-S291. 2 ElSayed NA, Aleppo G, Aroda VR, et al. 6. Glycemic Targets: Standards of Care in Diabetes-2023. Diabetes Care. 2023;46(Suppl 1):S97-S110. doi:10.2337/dc23-S006. 3 Colberg S, Sigal R, Yardley J et al. Physical Activity/Exercise and Diabetes: A Position Statement of the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care. 2016;39(11):2065-2079. doi:10.2337/dc16-1728. 4 Mitra A. Diabetes And Stress: A Review. West Bengal, India: School of Medical Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology; 2008. 5 Greenwood D, Gee P, Fatkin K, Peeples M. A Systematic Review of Reviews Evaluating Technology-Enabled Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2017;11(5):1015-1027. doi:10.1177/1932296817713506. 6 Dexcom U.S. data on file, November 2020. 7 Beck RW, Riddlesworth T, Ruedy K, et al. Effect of continuous glucose monitoring on glycemic control in adults with type 1 diabetes using insulin injections: The DIAMOND randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2017;317(4):371-378. 8 Beck RW, et al. Continuous glucose monitoring versus usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes receiving multiple daily insulin injections: A randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2017;167(6):365-374. 9 Welsh JB, et al. Comparisons of Fifth-, Sixth-, and Seventh-Generation Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2022:19322968221099879.
BRIEF SAFETY STATEMENT: Failure to use the Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring System and its components according to the instructions for use provided with your device and available at https://www.dexcom.com/safety-information and to properly consider all indications, contraindications, warnings, precautions, and cautions in those instructions for use may result in you missing a severe hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) or hyperglycemia (high blood glucose) occurrence and/or making a treatment decision that may result in injury. If your glucose alerts and readings from the Dexcom CGM do not match symptoms, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions. Seek medical advice and attention when appropriate, including for any medical emergency.