How Diabetes Affects People and Their Families
June 22, 2026
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For many people living with diabetes, managing blood glucose has traditionally meant taking occasional finger-prick measurements throughout the day. While blood glucose meters remain an important part of diabetes care, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has changed the way people can understand and manage their glucose levels.
A CGM provides ongoing glucose information throughout the day and night, allowing users to see not only their current glucose level, but also how it is changing over time.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends CGM for people with diabetes who can benefit from the technology, with its use considered according to an individual’s circumstances, preferences and treatment needs (American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee, 2026).
So, why are CGMs increasingly becoming an important part of modern diabetes management?
A traditional finger-prick test provides a snapshot of your blood glucose at one particular moment.
A CGM provides a much broader picture.
The device continuously monitors glucose and can show whether glucose is rising, falling or remaining relatively stable. This can help people identify patterns that may not be obvious from occasional finger-prick measurements (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2023).
For example, CGM data may help someone identify glucose patterns associated with:
This additional information can help people and their healthcare professionals make more informed decisions about diabetes management.
One of the major advantages of CGM technology is convenience.
A small sensor continuously monitors glucose and sends information to a compatible receiver, smartphone or other device. Depending on the CGM system, users can access glucose information without performing a finger-prick every time they want to know their glucose level (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2023).
However, CGMs do not necessarily eliminate the need for a blood glucose meter. There may be situations where a finger-prick measurement is still required, including when a reading does not match symptoms or according to the specific manufacturer’s instructions (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2023).
One of the biggest differences between traditional glucose monitoring and CGM is trend information.
Knowing that your glucose is 8 mmol/L is useful.
Knowing that it is 8 mmol/L and rising quickly provides additional information.
Likewise, knowing that your glucose is 8 mmol/L but falling can provide a very different context.
CGMs can display trend information, allowing users to see the direction in which glucose is changing. This can support more informed day-to-day diabetes management and help users recognise recurring patterns (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2023).
Some CGM systems can provide alerts when glucose reaches or is predicted to reach certain high or low levels.
This can be particularly useful for people who experience hypoglycaemia or who may not recognise the symptoms of low glucose.
NICE recommends offering adults with type 1 diabetes a choice of real-time CGM or intermittently scanned CGM, taking individual needs and preferences into account. NICE also recognises evidence that CGM can improve HbA1c, increase time spent within the target glucose range and reduce the risk or burden of hypoglycaemia in appropriate patients (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2023).
Diabetes management isn’t only about looking at a single glucose reading or even an HbA1c result.
CGM technology provides additional measurements such as:
These measurements provide additional information about a person’s glucose patterns and can complement HbA1c when assessing glycaemic management (American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee, 2026).
Time in Range is particularly useful because it provides information about how much time glucose spends within an individual’s target range.
Research has demonstrated that increasing time in range is associated with clinically meaningful outcomes in diabetes management (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2020).
Every person responds differently to food, exercise, medication, stress and other factors.
CGM technology can help make those individual responses more visible.
For example, a person may notice that their glucose consistently rises after a particular meal or that exercise affects their glucose levels.
Instead of simply asking:
“What is my glucose level?”
CGM allows people to start asking:
“What is causing my glucose to change?”
That shift can encourage greater understanding and more informed conversations with healthcare professionals.
CGM data isn’t only useful to the person wearing the sensor.
Data can be reviewed by healthcare professionals to identify glucose patterns and support diabetes management.
The ADA states that CGM can improve glycaemic outcomes, including HbA1c and time in range, and reduce episodes of hypoglycaemia in appropriate people with diabetes (American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee, 2026).
NICE also recommends individualised decision-making when selecting CGM technology, taking factors such as the person’s needs, preferences and circumstances into account (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2022).
CGMs are an important advancement in diabetes technology, but they are not automatically the right choice for every person.
The most appropriate device depends on an individual’s diabetes type, treatment, lifestyle, preferences, glucose patterns, access to technology and clinical needs.
The ADA recommends that diabetes technology should be selected according to an individual’s circumstances, preferences and needs (American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee, 2026).
It is also important to remember that CGM readings should be interpreted correctly and that a blood glucose meter may still be required in certain situations.
Anyone considering a CGM should discuss their options with a doctor, diabetes educator, pharmacist or other appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
CGMs represent an important shift in diabetes management — from occasional snapshots of glucose to a continuous view of glucose patterns.
A finger-prick test can tell you what your glucose is at a particular moment.
A CGM can help show you what your glucose is doing over time.
That information can help people recognise patterns, identify highs and lows, understand the impact of lifestyle choices and have more informed conversations with their healthcare team.
As diabetes technology continues to develop, CGMs are becoming an increasingly important tool for people who can benefit from continuous glucose monitoring.
American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee (2026) ‘7. Diabetes Technology: Standards of Care in Diabetes—2026’, Diabetes Care, 49(Suppl. 1), pp. S150–S165. doi: 10.2337/dc26-S007.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (2020) ‘Clinical Targets for Continuous Glucose Monitoring Data’. Available at: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/professionals/diabetes-discoveries-practice/clinical-targets-continuous-glucose-monitoring-data (Accessed: 12 August 2026).
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (2023) ‘Continuous Glucose Monitoring’. Available at: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/managing-diabetes/continuous-glucose-monitoring (Accessed: 12 August 2026).
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2022) ‘Type 1 diabetes in adults: diagnosis and management — Recommendations’. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng17/chapter/recommendations (Accessed: 12 August 2026).
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2023) ‘Quality statement 2: Continuous glucose monitoring — Type 1 diabetes in adults’. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs208/chapter/quality-statement-2-continuous-glucose-monitoring (Accessed: 12 August 2026).
