Creating your profile

Creating Your Profile

Your Nightscout profile contains the key settings used to interpret and display your glucose data. These settings influence trends, calculations, and how information appears on your Nightscout site.

Before making any changes, it is important to understand how profiles are handled if you are using an Automated Pancreas System (APS).

Important note for APS users

If you are using an APS system such as Loop, Trio, or iAPS, you usually do not need to manually configure your profile in Nightscout.

In most APS setups:

• Your APS app manages your profile
• The profile is automatically uploaded from your phone to Nightscout
• Manual changes made directly in Nightscout may be overwritten

If you have recently changed profile settings in your APS app and do not see them reflected in Nightscout, you may need to activate an override on your phone. In Loop, Trio, and iAPS, enabling an override often triggers the latest profile to be uploaded to Nightscout.

If you are using an APS system and your data is already flowing correctly, it is usually best to leave the Nightscout profile unchanged and manage profiles from your APS app instead.

Accessing the Profile Editor

If you are not using an APS system, or you have been advised to configure your profile manually, follow the steps below.

Step 1. Log in to your Nightscout site

Open your Nightscout site in a browser:

If prompted, enter your authentication credentials.

Step 2. Open the Profile Editor

1. Click the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner
2. Select Profile Editor from the menu

The Profile Editor will open.

Understanding the Profile Editor

The Profile Editor is divided into sections that control how Nightscout interprets and displays your data.

Some settings affect how information is shown.
Others influence calculations such as insulin activity, targets, and predictions.

If you are unsure about a setting, it is usually best to leave it unchanged until you have guidance from your healthcare team.

General Site Settings

At the top of the Profile Editor, you will see general site settings:

• Title
  The name displayed at the top of your Nightscout site
• Units
  Your glucose measurement units, mg/dL or mmol/L
• Date format
  How dates are displayed throughout your site

These settings affect display only and do not change your medical data.

Profile Management

Nightscout allows you to create multiple profiles for different situations.

You can:

• View the active profile
• Switch between profiles using the stored profiles dropdown
• Add a new profile using the “+” button
• Delete a profile using the “X” button
• Clone an existing profile to reuse its settings

Many users create different profiles for weekdays, weekends, illness, exercise, or travel.

Setting Up a Profile

Each profile contains settings that Nightscout uses to calculate and present information correctly.

Basic profile information

• Profile name
  A descriptive name such as “Weekday”, “Weekend”, or “Sick Day”
• Timezone
  Your local timezone, used for accurate time based calculations It is recommended to select a named timezone such as Europe/London rather than a fixed offset like GMT+1. Named timezones automatically account for daylight saving time changes and help ensure data remains accurate throughout the year.
• Duration of Insulin Action (DIA)
  How long insulin is considered active in your body

If you are unsure about any of these values, consult your healthcare provider before changing them.

A note on Duration of Insulin Action (DIA)

Duration of Insulin Action (DIA) defines how long insulin is considered active for calculations such as Insulin on Board (IOB) and predictions.

Nightscout’s default DIA is 3 hours. This is a conservative starting point used mainly for display and basic calculations.

Many modern automated insulin delivery systems use significantly longer DIA values. For example, the Trio APS system uses a default DIA of 10 hours and does not allow values below 5 hours. This reflects the long tail of insulin activity that continues at a low level well after the peak effect.

A common mistake is reducing DIA because it feels too long. Doing so can cause insulin to appear to stop working too soon in calculations, leading to misleading IOB values and overconfident corrections.

DIA should not be adjusted based on intuition alone. If you are considering changing it, do so cautiously and ideally with guidance from your healthcare team.

Insulin to Carbohydrate Ratio (I:C)

This setting defines how many grams of carbohydrate are covered by one unit of insulin.

To configure I:C ratios:

1. Click the “+” button
2. Set the start time
3. Enter the ratio for that time period
4. Add additional time periods if your ratio varies throughout the day

Insulin Sensitivity Factor (ISF)

This setting defines how much one unit of insulin lowers your blood glucose.

To configure ISF:

1. Click the “+” button
2. Set the start time
3. Enter the sensitivity value
4. Add additional time periods if needed

Carbohydrate absorption time

This setting estimates how long carbohydrates take to absorb.

• Enter the time in hours
• This value is used to calculate Carbs on Board (COB)

Basal rates

If your uploader does not send pump basal rates automatically, you can enter them manually.

To add basal rates:

1. Click the “+” button
2. Set the start time
3. Enter the basal rate
4. Repeat for additional time periods

Target blood glucose range

This defines your target glucose range throughout the day.

To configure targets:

1. Click the “+” button
2. Set the time period
3. Enter the target low and high values
4. Add additional periods if your targets vary

Saving Your Profile

When you are ready to save your changes:

1. Enter your API Secret in the authentication field
2. Click Save
3. Confirm that your changes have been saved successfully

You can return to the Profile Editor and make changes at any time.

Understanding Profile Records (Advanced)

Nightscout stores profile changes as database records.

When you modify and save a profile:

• Changes apply from the record’s valid date and time onward
• Historical data before that point is not altered

If you want to preserve historical behaviour exactly as it was, you can create a new record instead of modifying an existing one.

If you are unsure about records, it is safe to leave them unchanged.

Best Practices

• Work with your healthcare provider when setting or changing medical parameters
• Review your profile periodically as your needs change
• Use multiple profiles for different situations when helpful
• Keep a personal record of your settings for reference

Important Reminder

Nightscout and Nightscout Pro provide information and visibility only.

They do not provide medical advice and do not make treatment decisions.
All insulin dosing and treatment decisions remain the responsibility of the user and their healthcare team.