INCREDIBLE BENEFITS OF WALKING AFTER MEALS
It is tempting to collapse on the bed after dinner when the day is over and you are exhausted. Alternatively, unwind on your couch and enjoy your favourite soap opera or the newest Netflix series. However, going for a walk after dinner and walking after meals were common practices in the days before the idiot box and the internet.
There are many advantages to walking after meals but talking about walking would be irrelevant to our topic. We would continue discussing the advantages of walking after meals and how this long-standing custom is not only healthy but also highly advantageous for reducing weight, regulating blood sugar, improving digestion, and strengthening family ties. The four main advantages of walking will be discussed. Let's talk about the four main advantages of walking after eating:
1. Exercise actually helps with digestion after a meal. The movement of digested food through the GI tract, known as peristalsis, is induced by exercise.
* In a study published in the Journal of Gastrointestinal & Liver Diseases in 2008, a German research team from the University Hospital of Heidelberg in Mannheim studied 10 men who received 40 ml of one of the following liquids right after a meal: brandy, herb-flavoured liqueur, Williams pear brandy, aquavit (each with a 40% ethanol concentration), espresso, water, 40% ethanol, or 70% glucose. On another occasion, participants were given 40 ml of water and then instructed to walk on a treadmill slowly (4 km/h).
The consumption of alcohol or other beverages postprandially did not affect the gastric emptying time, which is the rate at which food leaves the stomach, according to research. Walking after a meal, however, hastens the emptying of the stomach.
We must realise, though, that these advantages are lost if exercise intensity is increased after meals.
* In a 1989 study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, a US research team from the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, led by P.D. Neufer, investigated the gastric emptying characteristics of water during treadmill exercises performed over a wide range of intensities relative to resting conditions. Ten men drank 400 ml of water prior to each of six 15-minute exercise sessions or 15 minutes of seated rest. At various intensities, walking and running exercises were performed in bouts.
Gastric emptying during walking and running: effects of varied exercise intensity - PubMed (nih.gov)
The study showed that when exercising at a moderate intensity while walking or running, as opposed to when at rest, gastric emptying is increased. Increased gastric emptying during moderately intense treadmill exercise may be linked to an increase in intragastric pressure ( ) brought on by the abdominal muscles contracting.
2. The increase in family ties and emotional connections is one of the biggest advantages of walking after meals that no one discusses.
Together, all the family members used to eat and have fun. This used to go on during the family's post-dinner walk, where they would discuss plans for the following day. The couple frequently discussed topics related to their jobs and personal lives. Children used to talk to their parents about their experiences, and the parents would offer advice that the kids could use to better their lives. That's how the family came together.
Not any longer, family members no longer even talk to one another for days after the invention of the idiot box, equally idiotic soap operas on television, and the internet. Forget about sharing a meal together. It is not unusual for family members who live together to go days without speaking or even seeing each other.
Let's be practical and acknowledge that most families cannot sit down to dinner together. It might be because of inconsistent work schedules or other responsibilities. Post-dinner walks, however, are the most straightforward and useful way to guarantee that this culture is revived.
Whatever family members are present in the home, a senior or authoritative member can make sure that they all go for a brief post-dinner stroll together. However, once the habit takes hold, they would hate to miss it. At first, it may need to be enforced and guaranteed. Of course, the advantages of health go hand in hand.
3. One of the best strategies for weight/fat loss is walking after meals. Our ancestors were very successful at using this method.
Researchers measured blood sugar levels before meals and at 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after meals were consumed without walking and with walking after meals for 30 minutes in two groups of two women: one 67-year-old Japanese female volunteer and one 60-year-old Japanese female with a family history of diabetes. For one month, the first volunteer lost almost 3 kg by walking quickly after lunch and dinner, and the second volunteer lost almost 1.5 kg by walking slowly during that time. Researchers discovered that walking immediately following meals was more effective for losing weight than waiting an hour. For those who do not experience fatigue, abdominal pain, or other discomforts when walking after meals, walking for 30 minutes at a brisk pace as soon as possible after lunch and dinner results in greater weight loss than walking for 30 minutes that begins an hour after a meal.
- In a 2012 study published in the journal Diabetes Care, C Manohar and colleagues continuously monitored the NEAT movements before and after volunteers consumed meals. It produced shocking results. After eating, those who sat experience a two-hour-long mountain-like spike in blood sugar. People's blood sugar levels drop to half if they walk for 15 minutes at just 1 mph after eating, though. That means lowering blood sugar levels and preventing diabetes can be achieved simply by taking a 15-minute walk once every three meals.
4. Blood sugar is the main factor that walking after meals affects.
Low-intensity walking after meals has been shown in numerous studies to significantly lower blood sugar levels. Check out the citations for support:
- A US research team led by S.R. Coldberg examined the various effects of a single bout of moderate exercise on the glycaemic response to an evening (dinner) meal in 12 men and women subjects with type 2 diabetes in a 2009 study published in the Journal of American Medical Directors Association. Three trials were carried out over the course of three different days. On the rest day, subjects consumed a standardised dinner with a moderate glycaemic effect, and on the exercise days, they walked on a treadmill for 20 minutes at their own pace either right before or 15 to 20 minutes after eating.
- In a 2013 study published in the journal Diabetic Care, a US research team led by Loretta DiPietro from The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services compared the impact of 45 minutes of sustained walking with three 15-minute post-meal walking bouts on 24-hour glycaemic control in elderly people at risk for glucose intolerance. The community was used to find older, non-smoking, inactive, and overweight participants. At 10:30 a.m. or 4:30 p.m., participants took a short, 15- or 45-minute post-meal walk.
- Researchers discovered that walking after meals and sustained morning walking both significantly improved 24-hour glycemic control. Additionally, walking after meals significantly lowers blood sugar levels three hours after dinner than 45 minutes of sustained morning or afternoon walking.
- In a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2015, a US research team led by Timothy D. Heden from the University of Missouri, Columbia, identified pre- or post-dinner resistance exercise (RE) as the more efficient time to reduce postprandial risk factors in type 2 diabetes patients. Thirteen obese patients with type 2 diabetes completed three trials in which they ate dinner without any RE, with RE starting 45 minutes before dinner, and with RE starting after dinner.
- RESISTANCE BAND
- COMPLETE WORKOUT EQUIPMENT
- VERSATILE BANDS
- EXERCISE GUIDE INCLUDED
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