Even while walking before and after meals both stimulate healthy metabolic activity, the chemical responses that occur in the body after eating are different from those of walking before. Remember that you're improving your general health each time you engage in physical activity suitable for your age and condition. So, is it better to walk before or after a meal? Let’s find out.

Walking Before a Meal

If you walk within half an hour or so after eating, you may reduce the amount of sugar and fat that builds up in your blood, particularly if the food is heavy in carbs or protein. Exercising also speeds up your metabolism, which means you burn more calories and energy. People who walked vigorously enough to sweat before eating burnt more fat than those who walked after eating, according to research published in 2006 in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.

Decline in Hunger Levels

You may eat less afterward because your core temperature rises when you exercise vigorously or moderately. To keep itself at a constant, steady temperature, the body works to bring it down when it detects that it's higher than usual. Until the body is no longer threatened by heat, hunger, and digestion are momentarily set aside.

But your hunger pangs will come back as the weather cools down. Walking before meals may help you eat less, which is great news for weight loss, particularly if your stroll makes you feel hotter inside.

Walking After a Meal

To burn off those calories and promote muscle and heart health, engaging in light to moderate walking after a meal, the intensity of which should be adjusted according to your dietary intake, is recommended. However, you shouldn't go for a fast walk right after a big meal since your body will be attempting to digest a lot of food and digesting it quickly. The heart must work twice as hard because the blood supply becomes too thin. Do not walk for 45 to 60 minutes after a heavy meal.

Benefits of Walking After Eating

Walking improves your health and well-being, without a doubt. It may boost your happiness, lifespan, and activity. However, walking after a meal may maximize their benefits. The advantages of walking after eating are as follows.

Assists with the Digestive Process

Going for a stroll after dinner was more typical in bygone days. Taking this "daily constitutional" was widely thought to kickstart digestion. Studies have provided evidence in favor of this notion. Walking after a meal speeds up the digestive process. Nonetheless, indigestion problems persisted. The current study, however, casts doubt on that conclusion.

In 2021, research explored the effects of walking after a meal. Gastric bloating sufferers walked 10–15 minutes after each meal. Fewer gastrointestinal (GI) issues, including flatulence, bloating, and burping, were noted after four weeks. Compared to digestive assistance medicine, a 10-minute walk after meals had a greater impact. However, extreme activity like power walking or running after a meal may cause nausea and diarrhea.

Blood Sugar Regulation

Walk after eating to lower blood sugar, among other benefits. You have fluctuating blood glucose levels all day. The level usually returns to normal after two hours of eating, then rises. A modest research found that healthy walking persons had lower post-meal blood sugar levels.

According to a review, reducing blood sugar levels is as simple as walking for two to five minutes after eating. Walking had a greater impact following periods of inactivity than just standing up. The reason for this is because walking uses more muscles. Your muscles may power your exercise by using energy from your most recent meal, which involves burning glucose. Diabetes may be better managed if the patient can avoid episodes of dangerously high or low blood sugar. A 10-minute walk after meals helped persons with Type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar levels, according to one research.

Improves Heart wellbeing

Heart health benefits from walking extend beyond just that. More blood flows to the brain, which in turn lowers blood pressure and lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease. Three 10-minute walks three times a day lowered blood pressure in young men who were at risk for hypertension, according to the research.

According to another small research, inactive older women whose daily routines included many brief walks had lower levels of post-meal triglycerides. Triglycerides are lipids that go through the bloodstream. Elevated triglycerides heighten the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Additional studies are required to determine the effects of walking immediately after a meal on lipid profiles and blood pressure. Although there are many ways to improve heart health, one is to include walks after meals into your daily routine.

Weight Management

Losing and maintaining a healthy weight might be aided by regular walking. You may shed or keep the weight off with calorie-burning, low-impact aerobic exercise. Walking immediately after a meal has not been shown to increase caloric expenditure. According to some studies, shorter walking sessions may be more effective for weight reduction than longer ones. Consequently, a 10-minute walk after meals is a terrific option to get in more workouts each day. Developing a workout regimen may be facilitated by it. Plus, being consistent will ensure you don't abandon your pursuit of objectives. Power walking or including quicker intervals into your walking routine will help you burn more calories and increase the intensity of your activity.

Duration of Your Walk

The recommended amount of time to walk after eating is subjective. Nonetheless, research indicates that you may get health benefits from as little as a 10- to 15-minute stroll after each meal. According to a new assessment, 4,000 steps a day may lower the chance of dying from any cause. However, taking around seven thousand steps daily may provide even greater advantages.

Thankfully, you can break up that lengthy stroll into shorter ones. Walking a mile leisurely (three miles per hour) typically takes around fifteen to twenty minutes. For the average person, that's about 2,000 to 2,500 steps. Therefore, you should strive to walk for at least fifteen minutes after each meal, or 2,000 steps, to begin.

Just a 10-minute walk after meals is a good length for a beginner's first stroll. Then, as you get fitter, gradually increase the distance you walk. Step up your walking time by 5 minutes each week until you walk straight for 20 to 30 minutes. Walking uphill, adding power walking intervals, or going for longer walks are ways fitness experts may make their walks tougher. Within half an hour after eating, get up and move about as much as possible. If you want to exercise more vigorously or consume a big dinner, you can require up to 90 minutes.