9 Benefits of Walking After Eating

​Although your biggest goal may be to lower your blood sugar levels, you may be surprised to hear that there are many other benefits of walking after eating a meal that affect our physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing. Here is a list of nine health benefits of taking a short walk post-meal and incorporating a walking program in your daily routine: 

1. Improves digestion: light walking has been shown to improve digestion by increasing GI motility and reducing the uncomfortable symptoms of indigestion. You may find that you are more “regular” with maintaining a regular walking program. Pun intended. 

2. Reduces bloating: increasing your steps to 10,000/day may help reduce symptoms of bloating and GI distress by close to 50%. This is especially true for those who suffer from GI diseases such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (or IBS). 

3. Helps with blood sugar management: research has shown an immediate reduction in blood glucose levels when participants went for a post-meal walk for 30 minutes after a big meal. Continuing to do this on a daily basis will improve insulin sensitivity and reduce unnecessary spikes throughout the day.

4. Reduces the risk of heart disease: participating in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise such as walking has been shown to increase heart health and reduce cardiovascular disease risk by means of lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. This can be done in short intervals throughout the day (5-10 minutes) or by doing 30 minutes of walking, five days per week. 

5. Aids in weight loss: walking can lead to weight loss (on average 4 to 16 pounds in 12 weeks) when done for 30 to 60 minutes daily at moderate intensities or by getting in the right amount of steps in a day to hit your weight loss goals.
 
6. Helps regulate blood pressure: many studies have shown a significant reduction in baseline blood pressure even in sedentary individuals when participants walked at a moderate intensity for 30 minutes continuously or for several 10-minute intervals throughout the day.

7. Kick starts “good mood” hormones: dopamine and serotonin are the two main hormones that provide a sense of “feeling good.” Moderate intensity, Zone-2 exercise has been shown to help release these feel-good hormones in even just a 10-minute walk or other physical activity. 

8. Taps into stored energy: the more active you are, the more your body will burn calories at rest because of the increase in your metabolism. If done at a high enough heart rate, walking can fall within “Zone 2” cardio exercise, which will also aid in burning stored fats for energy. 

9. Improves sleep quality: especially for those who struggle with insomnia, regular physical activity of at least 30 minutes a day has been shown to reduce insomnia and aid in longer durations of deep sleep. This is because of improved blood sugar control as well as the release of serotonin - a precursor to the sleep hormone melatonin.

 How Does Walking Lower Blood Sugar?
After eating a meal, your body begins breaking down food for digestion, and carbohydrates specifically are broken down into glucose (aka blood sugar). At this point, your pancreas releases insulin to help your body absorb the sugars out of your bloodstream, where it is then stored in the liver as glycogen or used right away for energy. For those who are insulin resistant (i.e., those living with type 2 diabetes), your body does not receive a very strong signal from the insulin that is released. This is what maintains the high levels of sugar in your blood and causes the blood sugar spikes that you may see after eating. Increasing your sensitivity to insulin through changes in diet and exercise helps your body to better receive messages from insulin and quickly absorb the sugars from your blood, thus reducing circulating blood sugar levels before noticing a spike.   
Walking has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood sugar because our working muscles require the sugar in our blood to function. This is why walking after eating a meal - instead of before -  has been shown to help reduce spikes in blood sugar and help with long-term blood sugar control.

Potential Downsides of Walking After Meals
There are not many downsides to walking after a big meal; however, there are some that can be avoidable or can be worked through over time. Doing any amount of exercise - including walking - after a meal can cause an upset stomach both during activity and afterward. This is dependent on the size of the meal, how fast the meal was eaten, and the intensity of the exercise you did after the meal. Typically, larger meals eaten quickly and high-intensity cardio directly after eating are more likely to cause an upset stomach. To mitigate any GI distress, make sure to eat your meal slowly, avoid eating past the feeling of fullness, and ease into physical activity while waiting about 60 minutes before starting to exercise.