The fastest way to raise low blood sugar is to eat or drink 15 grams of fast-acting carbohydrates, then wait 15 minutes and recheck. Blood sugar below 70 mg/dL is considered low, and most people feel noticeably better within 10 to 15 minutes of eating something sugary. How you respond depends on how low your levels have dropped and whether you’re able to eat and drink on your own.
Recognizing Low Blood Sugar
Your body sends warning signals in a predictable order. The earliest signs come from your nervous system ramping up in response to falling glucose: sweating, a racing heart, shaky hands, anxiety, and sudden intense hunger. These symptoms act as an alarm, giving you time to eat something before things get worse.
If blood sugar continues to drop, the brain itself starts running short on fuel. That’s when confusion sets in, along with difficulty concentrating, irritability, and in rare cases, hallucinations or loss of coordination. At the most severe level, a person may be unable to help themselves and need someone else to step in. Knowing the early signs and acting on them quickly is what keeps a mild episode from becoming a serious one.
The 15-15 Rule
This is the standard approach recommended by the CDC and the American Diabetes Association. Eat 15 grams of fast-acting carbohydrates, wait 15 minutes, then check your blood sugar again. If it’s still below 70 mg/dL, repeat. Keep repeating until your levels are back in a normal range.
Pure glucose is the preferred option because it enters your bloodstream faster than other foods. Glucose tablets, which you can buy at any pharmacy, are pre-measured to make this easy. But several common foods and drinks also deliver roughly 15 grams of carbohydrates:
- 4 oz (half a cup) of fruit juice
- 4 oz of regular soda (not diet)
- 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey
- 15 grapes
- 1 small banana
Avoid reaching for chocolate, peanut butter, ice cream, or other foods high in fat or protein as your first response. Fat slows digestion, which delays the glucose from reaching your bloodstream when you need it most. Save those foods for the follow-up step.
What to Eat After Your Levels Stabilize
Fast-acting sugar fixes the immediate problem, but it can wear off quickly, leaving you vulnerable to another drop. Once your blood sugar is back above 70 mg/dL, eat a small snack that combines complex carbohydrates with protein and healthy fat. This combination slows digestion and keeps your levels steadier over the next few hours.
Nuts are a particularly good choice because many varieties deliver all three, carbohydrates, protein, and fat, in a single handful. Other solid options include whole-grain crackers with cheese, a slice of toast with peanut butter, or yogurt with a piece of fruit. If your next full meal is more than two hours away, this follow-up snack is especially important.
Levels of Severity
Not all low blood sugar episodes are the same. The American Diabetes Association classifies them into three levels, and each one calls for a different response.
Level 1 means blood sugar between 54 and 69 mg/dL. This is where most people notice symptoms like shakiness and hunger. The 15-15 rule handles it well.
Level 2 is below 54 mg/dL. Symptoms are more intense and the risk of confusion increases. The same 15-15 approach applies, but you may need to repeat it more than once, and someone nearby should keep an eye on you.
Level 3 is any episode where a person can’t treat themselves, regardless of the actual number. They may be confused, unconscious, or unable to swallow safely. This is a medical emergency.
When Someone Can’t Eat or Drink
If a person is too confused or unconscious to swallow, never try to put food or liquid in their mouth. This is where glucagon comes in. Glucagon is a hormone that signals the liver to release stored glucose into the bloodstream, and it’s available as a prescription emergency kit.
Three formats exist: a nasal spray that delivers powdered glucagon through the nose (no injection needed), a pre-filled pen similar to an EpiPen that’s ready to inject immediately, and an older kit that requires mixing a powder with liquid before injection. The nasal spray and pre-filled pen are generally preferred because they don’t require any preparation during a stressful moment. Anyone who takes insulin should have glucagon on hand, and the people around them, family members, coworkers, school staff, should know where it is and how to use it.
Low Blood Sugar Without Diabetes
Most searches about raising blood sugar come from people managing diabetes, but low blood sugar can happen to anyone. Reactive hypoglycemia is the most common non-diabetic form, where blood sugar drops a few hours after a meal, typically after eating a large amount of refined carbohydrates. Your body overproduces insulin in response to the sugar spike, and levels crash.
Alcohol can also cause low blood sugar because it interferes with the liver’s ability to release stored glucose. Certain medications, some herbal supplements, and major gastric surgery are other known triggers. If you’re experiencing repeated episodes of low blood sugar and you don’t have diabetes, that pattern is worth investigating with a healthcare provider, as it can occasionally point to hormonal or metabolic conditions that need treatment.
For reactive hypoglycemia, the most effective prevention strategy is eating smaller meals every two to four hours and pairing carbohydrates with protein and fat at every meal. This prevents the sharp blood sugar spikes that trigger the overcorrection.
Preventing Overnight Drops
Blood sugar can fall during sleep, which is particularly dangerous because you can’t feel the warning signs. Nocturnal hypoglycemia is more likely if you skip dinner, exercise intensely before bed, or drink alcohol in the evening.
A bedtime snack that includes complex carbohydrates and protein can help maintain levels through the night. For people on insulin, adjusting the dose or timing of the evening injection often makes a difference. Continuous glucose monitors that sound an alarm when levels start falling are one of the most reliable safeguards, since they catch drops before they become severe.
Raising Blood Sugar in Children
Children need less glucose than adults to correct a low. The general guideline is about 0.3 grams of glucose per kilogram of body weight. In practical terms, a 65-pound child needs roughly 9 grams of carbohydrates (about two-thirds of a glucose tablet dose), while a 110-pound child needs the full 15 grams that adults use. Giving a small child the full adult dose can cause blood sugar to swing too high in the other direction, so scaling the amount to their size matters.
For severe episodes where a child can’t eat, glucagon dosing also differs by size: the full dose for children over 55 pounds and half that for smaller children. Keeping a glucagon kit at home and at school is a standard recommendation for any child on insulin.