Why Everyone Should Pay Attention to Continuous Glucose / Zhixiong Pan

After wearing an Apple Watch for ten years, I finally unlocked blood glucose with a CGM.

I recently started wearing a CGM, or continuous glucose monitor. It means putting a small sensor on my arm. I do not have diabetes, and I do not have a family history of diabetes.

The device is about the size of a coin and sits on the back of the upper arm. Underneath it is a very thin flexible filament inserted under the skin, measuring glucose levels 24 hours a day. The sensor needs to be replaced every two weeks.

It sounds a little intimidating, but my own experience was much gentler than the description. I felt no pain at all.

I wore it mostly out of curiosity. I wanted to know how different foods affect my blood glucose. In an era where diabetes is appearing at younger ages, I also wanted to know whether my own diet was quietly shaping my health.

Background: The Warning Behind a Trillion-Dollar Market

According to IDF data, the world is now approaching 600 million people with diabetes, a 42% increase compared with ten years ago.

Capital is often the most sensitive signal. Eli Lilly, a giant deeply focused on diabetes, became the first pharmaceutical company in history to cross a trillion-dollar market capitalization because its glucose-lowering drugs captured one of the defining anxieties of this era.

Semaglutide’s shift from glucose-lowering drug to “weight-loss miracle drug” has further blurred the boundary between treating disease and managing the body.

Even metformin, a cornerstone drug for diabetes treatment, has increasingly moved beyond the category of simply “treating disease” because of its potential links to anti-aging and healthspan extension. It has become a recurring topic in longevity science.

Why should ordinary people care about diabetes? Because in a modern society overflowing with sugar, metabolic health has become one of our most expensive invisible assets. Even without a diagnosis, sharp glucose swings can quietly drain energy and mood.

Price: From Medical Device to Consumer Product

As China began to popularize this category around 2021, many domestic brands emerged and pushed CGM toward the mass market.

The category itself only began around the early 2000s. In developed countries, it became more widely known and used mainly during the 2010s.

In earlier years, using this kind of product in China almost meant buying imported devices from companies like Abbott, costing nearly 1,000 RMB per month. Today, domestic brands such as SiBionics, Yuwell, and MicroTech have pushed prices down to around 200 RMB per month at the low end. That reduces the burden for people with diabetes, and it also lets curious users like me try the technology at a relatively low cost.

Some of my friends in Singapore even buy Chinese CGM products from JD.com and ship them overseas. The technical gap is not as large as many people assume, and the measurement error is generally within a controllable range. As long as new brands can avoid patent barriers, they may help make CGM affordable for more people around the world.

Technology: The Ideal and Reality of Non-Invasive Monitoring

As a ten-year Apple Watch user, I have heard rumors about Apple’s non-invasive glucose monitoring for many years. It still feels far away. That says something: the demand is real, but the technical difficulty is also very high.

Until Apple or someone else solves it, home glucose monitoring still means either pricking a finger for blood or wearing an implanted sensor like CGM. That is a psychological barrier for many users. Fortunately, today’s CGM experience is already good enough to feel almost invisible.

Mindset: Everyone Can Be a Biohacker

Of course, CGM’s primary job is to help people with diabetes adjust diet, medication, and insulin dosage. But for ordinary people, it has also become an inexpensive body dashboard.

It reminds me of the German Netflix series Biohackers and the game Cyberpunk 2077. In those worlds, biohackers are often associated with radical gene editing or body modification.

In reality, biohacking does not have to be that extreme. It can simply mean quantifying your health state through data, then using that feedback to adjust lifestyle, diet, and supplements.

I used Apple Watch to look at ECG and sleep. Now I use CGM to look at glucose. There is nothing mystical about it. I just want one more data stream, so I can understand what I eat with a little more clarity.

After all, if you want to become a “super individual,” you first need to understand your own body.

Note: Regulations differ across countries and regions. Consult a doctor before use. This article is not medical advice.

Originally published on X.

Reader Notes

After this article was published, several friends started trying CGM and shared their own notes. Thanks to them for making those experiences public: