I tracked my blood sugar - and learned stress is as harmful as a bad diet

Glucose monitoring has long been associated with diabetes management , but a wave of new biosensors promises insights for people without the condition too. The idea: by tracking your blood sugar in real time, you can learn how diet, sleep, stress and exercise affect your energy and overall health.

I tested Lingo by Abbott’s biosensor for a month to see what I could learn about my own patterns. Sophie Bertrand, resident nutritionist at Lingo, then helped me interpret my results.

The device arrives in a sleek blue box with simple instructions. It was painless to apply, despite my initial hesitation.

The app assigns a “Lingo count,” their measure of glucose exposure in the form of a number you want to keep under each day, which adjusts based on your data. My first target was 60.

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