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Feb. 4, 2026

7 Prediabetes Signs and Symptoms

Michael Zane, DO

Medically reviewed by:
Michael Zane, DO

Read on for everything to know about prediabetes signs and symptoms, and what to do.

One of the most critical health conditions may be one that you don’t know about. Prediabetes, which affects 98 million Americans, can often go unnoticed. In fact, eight in ten adults with prediabetes don’t know they have the condition.1 Yet, certain prediabetes signs and symptoms can help you track your own health. Knowing about these signs and symptoms can help you detect the condition sooner and even reverse it.

What is prediabetes?

Prediabetes is an “in-between” state. It exists between normal blood sugar levels and official diabetes. Sometimes prediabetes is called a “warning sign” for diabetes. Other names for prediabetes include impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance. Prediabetes can be an indicator of a developing problem, although it is not officially type 2 diabetes.

To classify someone as having prediabetes, clinicians can look at different blood tests. Two of these include a fasting blood sugar level and a 2-hour post-glucose challenge test.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), to be diagnosed with prediabetes, one or both of the following must be true:2

  • Your fasting blood sugar level is between 100 and 125 mg/dL
  • Your 2-hour post-glucose challenge test is between 140-199 mg /dL

Another test, known as the hemoglobin A1C test (HbA1C or simply A1C), can also be used to define prediabetes. This test evaluates your average blood sugar level over the past 8 to 12 weeks. Having an HbA1C level of between 5.7% and 6.4% also means you have prediabetes.3

What causes prediabetes?

To understand the cause of prediabetes, it’s helpful to first think about blood sugar and its role in the body. Glucose (sugar) travels in the blood and is delivered to your body’s cells as an energy source. To move glucose from your bloodstream into your cells, you need the hormone insulin. Insulin helps pull sugar from the blood and bring it into the cells for use.

When you have prediabetes or diabetes, your cells become resistant to insulin’s effects. This is called insulin resistance. This means that glucose molecules can accumulate in the blood, leading to elevated blood glucose levels. Your pancreas has to work harder to make more insulin hormone to keep up with elevated blood sugar levels. Having chronically high blood sugar can damage your tissues and organs. This is why it’s essential to keep track of your blood sugar and make changes as necessary.

The exact reason why insulin resistance develops is unknown. There may be a genetic reason. Lifestyle factors also affect how your body processes glucose and uses insulin. Fortunately, changing your lifestyle can often reverse a prediabetes condition and delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.

7 symptoms of prediabetes

Prediabetes symptoms typically develop from an underlying problem with processing blood glucose. When too much glucose is circulating in the blood, you may have certain symptoms. Your pancreas must work harder to keep up, but it may still not produce enough insulin.

Here are 7 symptoms of prediabetes you should know about.

  • 1. Feeling tired. Sometimes, high blood glucose levels can make you feel tired or lethargic. Think about how you sometimes feel after eating a big meal or eating a lot of dessert. You feel sleepy, like you need to rest on the couch.
  • 2. Feeling hungry, despite eating. If your body’s cells aren’t able to pull in glucose and use it as an energy source, you may still feel hungry, even after eating a meal. This is because your cells are still craving energy and sending hunger signals to your stomach and brain.
  • 3. Urinating more frequently. When your blood glucose levels are elevated, your kidneys work hard to restore balance. Your kidneys are your body’s filters; they absorb certain molecules out of the blood and transfer them to urine. When blood glucose levels are elevated, your kidneys may remove glucose from the blood and excrete it in urine. Having glucose in your urine can make you pee more frequently because glucose draws more water in, making your bladder fill faster.
  • 4. Feeling thirsty. If you are peeing more frequently and losing fluid through your urine, you may also feel thirsty. This is your body’s natural response to excessive urination. It signals you to drink more water to add fluid back into the system.
  • 5. Unintentional weight loss. In prediabetes, too much sugar remains in your bloodstream after eating, instead of being transferred to your cells. This means that your cells cannot use glucose as an energy source or building block. When cells cannot grow or function appropriately because of a lack of glucose, it can cause you to lose weight unintentionally.
  • 6. Skin changes. Even before you have other symptoms, you may see signs of insulin resistance in your skin. A certain skin condition, acanthosis nigracans, can mean insulin resistance. This appears as a dark, velvety rash, typically on the back of the neck. It can also be present in the groin and armpits and be mistaken for dirt.
  • 7. Increased healing time. When you have elevated blood sugar levels, it can impact your immune system. Diabetes and prediabetes can make it harder for you to heal from infections. These may include infections such as upper respiratory viruses, as well as skin infections or wounds.

Sometimes it can be hard to know if these seven symptoms above are prediabetes symptoms or symptoms of something else. Many health conditions can cause symptoms such as fatigue and unintentional weight loss. This is why it’s important to see your doctor for a full evaluation. Checking your blood sugar can help define where you are on a diabetes spectrum, including prediabetes. Other blood tests, such as thyroid tests, can also help identify other causes of these symptoms.

What to do if you think you have prediabetes

If you think you may have prediabetes, it’s important to examine your lifestyle. Then you can work to change any factors that may be contributing to the condition. Prediabetes is reversible because there are lifestyle changes that can help change the way your cells respond to insulin. In other words, they can increase your body’s sensitivity to insulin so that it can function optimally.

Ways to improve your blood sugar and potentially reverse prediabetes include:

  • Exercising. Exercising can increase the rate at which your cells take up glucose from the bloodstream. Experts recommend getting 150 weekly minutes of moderate exercise, or 75 minutes weekly of high-intensity exercise. It’s also important to stay active outside of specific exercise sessions, too. This means you should get up and move at least once an hour, especially if you spend a lot of time in a sedentary position.
  • Eating a healthy, balanced diet. The majority of your daily calories should come from certain foods. These include fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, healthy fats (like olive oil and avocado) and lean protein. It is just as important to avoid high-carbohydrate foods, added sugar and ultraprocessed foods. These can increase the amount of circulating glucose in your blood and add to insulin resistance.
  • Maintain an optimal weight. Pairing the above lifestyle habits of exercise and good nutrition can help you lose weight and then maintain an optimal weight. This will help increase your body’s sensitivity to insulin and reduce your chances of developing diabetes.
  • Sleep. Getting poor sleep on a routine basis can boost your cortisol stress hormone levels, which can, in turn, impact your blood sugar levels. People who have disrupted sleep or irregular sleep are more likely to have elevated blood sugar levels and prediabetes. To improve your sleep, stick to a routine—such as going to bed and waking up at the same time each day. It’s also important to pay attention to your caffeine and alcohol intake and how they may affect your sleep.
  • Lower your stress level. The cortisol stress hormone can raise your blood sugar. For this reason, it’s important to incorporate a stress-reducing practice into your daily routine. This looks different for every person. Stress-lowering activities may include:

    • Yoga
    • Journaling
    • Meditation
    • Breathing exercises
    • Time in nature
    • Aromatherapy or music therapy
    • Massage

When to see a doctor

If you are experiencing any of the seven prediabetes signs and symptoms above, it’s important to get evaluated by your primary physician. A simple blood test can show whether symptoms are coming from prediabetes or diabetes. From there, you can get guidance on what to do to avoid the development of full-on type 2 diabetes. Seeing your physician regularly can also help track other health parameters. Your blood pressure and cholesterol are often tracked with blood glucose. Staying on top of all your health markers can help keep you healthy over the long term.

To learn more about prediabetes and to get support in managing your blood sugar levels, get in touch with WellMed today.

References

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