When Maria – a 35-year-old, working mother living in Johannesburg – wakes up each morning, her first glance is at the discreet sensor on her arm. The number she sees on her phone’s accompanying app is vital information she uses every day. 

As a mother and breadwinner, Maria’s daily mental load is considerable – from managing her two children’s needs, to work stress and monitoring her own health just adds to her extensive “to-do” list. Thankfully, the new diabetes monitoring technology she now uses has lightened the load.

When she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2020, she became accustomed to the chore of monitoring herself for sudden lows, especially at night, when she might not wake up in time to respond. 

Low blood sugar – or hypoglycemia – can be dangerous for people with diabetes. It can starve the brain of its primary energy source – glucose – leading to seizures, coma, or in the worst cases, even death. This technology makes it essential for Maria to monitor her blood sugar levels constantly. 

Then, of course, there were the finger-prick measurements for blood sugar she had to take at set times. The constant insight provided by this new device enables Maria to manage her sugar levels by eating certain foods, administering her insulin (the hormone that regulates glucose in the body), or, in an emergency, contacting her doctor.

Just five years on from her diagnosis, however, the chore of glucose management has become more convenient. Now, her connected, AI-powered device provides constant monitoring and can warn her early, giving her a chance to act before her glucose drops too far.

The predictability brings Maria peace of mind, reduces stress and provides some much-needed emotional relief and everyday confidence. As she goes about her day, predictive alerts and built-in safety features are an invisible companion that sees what Maria can’t, empowering her to stay one step ahead of her diabetes.

From finger pricks to continuous insight

As the world observes World Diabetes Month in November, stories like Maria’s show how far diabetes care has come – from simply managing crises to anticipating them. The power of prediction is a new enabler, changing the game for people with diabetes. Where many people may have felt that the disease dictated how they lived their lives before, innovations in Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) have injected newfound freedom and peace of mind.

CGM offers a new level of convenience and continuous insight, building upon the established reliability of BGM (Blood Glucose Monitoring) – trusted by many South Africans, and an accurate tool that maintains its relevance, both independently and for backup and calibration.

Today, people with diabetes use a small sensor beneath the skin that measures glucose in the interstitial fluid (a bodily tissue fluid that helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to cells) every few minutes, sending real-time data to a phone or receiver. This means that daily finger pricing is no longer required. And many people like Maria might agree that this is a significant leap in ease and comfort.

The predictive leap

Predictive monitoring is the next stage in the ongoing evolution of diabetes management — turning real-time data into early warning. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), new systems can forecast short-term glucose changes — often 30 to 120 minutes ahead — allowing people to take action preemptively.

Jochen Berchtold, Lifecycle Leader for Continuous Monitoring at Roche Diagnostics, describes the simple advantage CGM provides: “Prediction is about transforming information into foresight, giving people time to respond, not just react. That foresight changes the rhythm of care. Instead of living by alarms and corrections (an extra dose of rapid-acting insulin), people gain the immense relief of confidence and convenience.”

Connected care and the power of personalisation

As highlighted in the Glucose Never Lies podcast series, technology only helps if it fits the person using it. Factors like alarm fatigue (the modern irritation many people have to overwhelming digital notifications), lifestyle and personal preference all influence whether a CGM improves daily life. Predictive systems are being designed with this in mind — offering flexible alerts and adaptive learning to reduce fatigue.

“Technology should adapt to people, not the other way around,” says Berchtold. “That’s the future - systems that fade into the background of daily life, quietly supporting good decisions.”

A new age of care

In the age of the three-second attention span, CGM aligns with the growing shift towards connected, lower-maintenance care. While prediction can’t replace sound patient judgment or clinical expertise, there’s a new era of technology that complements both. For people like Maria, it offers something that once seemed impossible: the chance to live without constant vigilance and lighten her daily mental load so she can focus on what matters to her.

From finger pricks to foresight, the evolution of diabetes care is being shaped by both science and empathy. The next frontier isn’t about more technology — it’s about smarter, quieter technology that gives people space to live fully, in control and ahead of the curve.