Taking a walk after meals may yield several health benefits, such as improving digestion and promoting weight loss. Keep reading to learn about more benefits, potential side effects, and the best time to walk.
It’s become trendy to take a short walk after each meal to yield various health benefits. But, outside of just a trend, taking a short walk after meals can actually impact your health in a positive way.
Potential Benefits
Exercise is associated with many health benefits. This includes walking after eating, which has some unique benefits of its own.
May Improve Digestion
A major potential benefit associated with walking after eating is improved digestion.
Body movement can aid your digestion by promoting stimulation of the stomach and intestines, causing food to move through more rapidly.
Research has shown that walking the equivalent of 10 hours per week prevents cancer in the digestive system, which includes the:
- Mouth
- Throat
- Esophagus
- Stomach
- Small Intestine
- Colorectum
- Pancreas
- Galbladder
- Liver
May Help Manage Blood Sugar Levels
Another notable benefit of walking after eating is improved blood sugar management.
This is particularly important for people with type 1 and 2 diabetes — conditions that impair blood sugar processing — because exercising after eating may prevent excessive spikes in blood sugar.
A 2016 study in people with type 2 diabetes found that light walking for 10 minutes after each meal was more effective than walking for 30 minutes at any one time for blood sugar management.
While post-meal exercise is particularly impactful for those with diabetes, others can benefit from its blood-sugar-lowering effects as well. Research has found that light exercise closer to the time of eating is more effective than more intense exercise further out.
May Reduce Heart Disease Risk
For decades, physical activity has been linked to heart health.
More specifically, research has shown that regular exercise may lower your blood pressure and LDL (bad) cholesterol, while also reducing your risk of a stroke or heart attack.
The CDC recommends 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise at least 5 days per week. By completing three 10-minute walks per day following meals, you can easily meet this guideline.
May Promote Weight Loss
It’s well known that exercise plays a major role in weight loss in combination with a proper diet.
To promote weight loss, you must be in a calorie deficit. This means that you burn more calories than you take in.
Walking after meals could bring you closer to reaching a calorie deficit. That said, more data is needed to determine the specific effects of walking after meals on weight loss.
May Help Regulate Blood Pressure
Walking after meals may also help regulate blood pressure to a certain extent.
Another study in sedentary individuals found that starting a walking program can reduce systolic blood pressure, including those with resistant hypertension.
Based on current data, participating in walks after meals might have a potent blood-pressure-lowering effect.
Summary
The benefits of walking after meals are plentiful and include improved digestion, heart health, blood sugar management, weight loss, and regulated blood pressure.
May Cause Upset Stomach
While walking after eating has very few associated negative side effects, there is one that should be mentioned.
Some people may experience an upset stomach when walking after eating, with symptoms like indigestion, diarrhea, nausea, gas, and bloating.
This can happen when food that’s been recently eaten moves around in your stomach, creating a less-than-ideal environment for digestion.
If you experience any of these symptoms, try to wait 10–15 minutes after meals before walking and keep the walking intensity low.
Summary
While walking after meals has few downsides, some may experience an upset stomach. Hence, it may be helpful to keep the intensity and duration of your post-meal walks low when starting out.
How Long Should You Walk?
Keeping your walks to around 10 minutes lets you yield the potential benefits while preventing downsides like an upset stomach. Plus, this duration makes it easier to fit in the walks throughout your day without greatly affecting your schedule.
By completing three 10-minute walks per day, you can easily accumulate 30 minutes of daily physical activity, thus meeting the recommended guidelines from the CDC.
Summary
Walking for 10 minutes after meals is a good starting point that allows you to take advantage of the major benefits, while not greatly affecting your daily schedule.
Regulate The Intensity
While you may think that if walking after meals is good, then jogging after meals must be better, this is likely not the case.
During the initial digestion process following a meal, you’re at an increased risk of getting an upset stomach if exercising too intensely.
Thus, you should keep the intensity low to moderate — aim for an elevated heart rate without being out of breath.
A brisk walk at a pace of no more than 3 miles (5 km) per hour will allow you to yield the benefits while most likely avoiding an upset stomach.
Some people may react differently to walking after meals, so it’s important to start out with a lower intensity if you’re not in the habit of frequent physical activity yet.
Summary
Your post-meal walking intensity should be low to moderate to avoid getting an upset stomach. A brisk walk at a speed of 3 miles (5 km) per hour is appropriate.
Takeaway
Walking after meals is a growing trend.
The main benefits include improved digestion, heart health, blood sugar management, regulated blood pressure, and weight loss.
Starting with low to moderate intensity 10-minute walks following your main meals allows you to yield these benefits with a low risk of negative side effects.
Though the intensity is generally low, it’s important to check with your healthcare provider before starting an exercise regimen if you have any preexisting conditions.
Important Notice: This article was originally published at www.healthline.com by Daniel Preiato, RD, CSCS where all credits are due. Medically reviewed by Cynthia Taylor Chavoustie, MPAS, PA-C.
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