Hyperglycemia happens when the physique has an excessive amount of glucose, or sugar, circulating within the blood.

“In order for our cells to use the glucose from food for energy, we need insulin, a naturally occurring hormone made by the pancreas,” explains Michael Marchese, M.D., a board-certified endocrinologist at Stamford Health Medical Group in Connecticut. “Hyperglycemia occurs when the pancreas isn’t making enough insulin, or it’s not utilizing the insulin it’s making appropriately.”

A normal blood glucose level is taken into account 99 milligrams per deciliter or decrease whereas fasting, or 140 milligrams per deciliter or decrease two hours after a meal, in keeping with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). High blood sugar happens when your blood glucose ranges exceed both 125 milligrams per deciliter whereas fasting or 180 milligrams per deciliter two hours after consuming.

“Elevation above a healthy threshold usually happens in people with diabetes, pre-diabetes or insulin resistance (a condition in which a person’s cells stop responding to insulin,), as their [bodies] cannot adequately process the increase in glucose,” says Kateryna Komarovskiy, M.D., a board-certified endocrinologist at Memorial Hermann in Houston, Texas. “However, it can also increase as a result of [specific] foods, stress, medications or other medical conditions that can increase stress hormone production.”

Although occasional episodes of excessive blood sugar aren’t usually a trigger for concern, a person with frequent, extended or extreme blood sugar elevations would seemingly want to hunt therapy, she provides.