Walking generally benefits you, but what about after a meal?
Walking after dinner can provide you with several significant health benefits, including:
- assisting with digestion,
- blood sugar management,
- blood pressure regulation,
- heart health, weight loss,
- and sleep improvement
Here’s the lowdown on what happens after a meal when you go for a walk.
Walking after meals has a lot of advantages.
Walking after dinner has numerous health benefits, not only after Thanksgiving dinner. Before you curl up on the couch to watch Netflix and unwind after dinner, consider why going for a stroll could be a brilliant idea.
It aids in digestion.
Walking after eating aids digestion by stimulating your stomach and intestines, causing your food to flow through you more rapidly, according to a bit of research.
Exercising can also assist with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), constipation, and colorectal cancer symptoms.
It is beneficial to blood sugar levels.
According to a 2016 study, walking also helps regulate blood sugar, which benefits those with type 1 and 2 diabetes. Exercising, especially after eating, can assist in preventing blood sugar rises.
The same study indicated that walking for 10 minutes after each meal helped people with type 2 diabetes regulate their blood sugar.
It was better than going for a 30-minute walk whenever I wanted.
Another short study discovered that people who walked for 15 minutes after eating had similar blood sugar values.
It is beneficial to the heart.
Your ticker stays healthy if you move your body, which includes walking.
According to a review of studies, exercise can help lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol (the “bad”) and reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke.
According to a 2013 study, interspersing long periods of sitting with short activities will help lower blood triglycerides, raising your risk of heart disease.
You are taking brief 10-minute walks after each meal is easy to break up your WFH or desk work existence and gain these benefits.
It can help you lose weight.
Exercise and a good diet will help you stay healthy if you’re trying to lose weight. To decrease body fat, you’ll need to exercise and burn more calories than you consume. Cardio is an excellent technique for losing weight, especially with strength training.
Calories are expended while walking. So, after a meal, taking a walk is a beautiful method to get those steps in a while, improving your fitness and overall health.
It aids in the treatment of high blood pressure.
Are you concerned about your blood pressure? Walking won’t improve things (sorry), but it can help you control your blood pressure.
According to one small study, taking three 10-minute walks can help lower blood pressure.
It can be even better if you keep going for these walks for a long time.
According to another study, a 6-month walking program reduced participants’ systolic blood pressure (the top number of their blood pressure) by 13%.
Again, soon after breakfast, lunch, and supper is a simple way to get numerous walks in a day.
It may result in a more restful night’s sleep.
Stretching before bed or going for a walk after dinner will help you sleep better.
People’s sleep quality improved when they increased the amount of time they spent walking each day, according to a 2019 study.
Walking after meals has inevitable negative consequences.
Walking after a meal can cause stomach distress and GI issues such as diarrhea, nausea, bloating, and gas for some people.
What is causing this? Because your meal is flung around as you walk, it might make things sloshy and cause digestion problems. Walking too quickly is also frequently to blame. Avoiding GI issues may be as simple as walking at a brisk pace (not a sprint).
When it comes to walking, how far should you go?
Short walks that break up the day appear to be the best option, so there’s no need for a 5-hour climb after a big dinner.
All it takes is 10 minutes of walking three times daily to get the benefits we’ve listed.
Even 30 minutes of activity, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended, can be achieved if you eat three meals a day and walk after each.
