Walking has been one of my favorite forms of exercise due to its ridiculous number of health and body composition benefits. But specifically walking after dinner has additional unique benefits that are worth taking note of.
Today I'm sharing the 7 impressive benefits of walking after a meal.
Let's dive into it.
1. Promotes better sleep
Heading for a short after dinner walk could actually improve your evening rest.
Those who are more active throughout the day tend to get better and more restful sleep. This is very important if you're looking to achieve a fat loss goal because poor sleep has been tied to weight gain around the belly. Plus, poor sleep impairs the ability to recover from a workout, which could also reverse your progress.
2. Reduces stress levels
Walking helps to lower the stress hormone cortisol, which is especially important at the end of the day when our stress tends to accumulate.
In fact, walking outside has even better benefits. One study found that walking for 15 minutes in a natural environment (such as a beach, garden, park or lake) significantly lowered cortisol levels. So taking a post-meal evening stroll can help to reduce stress levels before hitting the hay.
Considering high stress levels are tied to weight gain around the belly, this is an important factor for a fat loss goal as well.
3. Promotes digestion
Walking after dinner can help to promote digestion of the meal. Walking helps to stimulate the migrating motor complex (MMC) which aids in moving food and bacteria through and out of the GI tract.
4. Balances blood sugar levels
When we walk after a meal it allows our muscles to absorb excess glucose. This in turn helps to lower and balance blood sugar levels after a meal. By balancing blood sugar levels, it can also help to prevent a blood sugar crash in the middle of the night which can prevent disturbed sleep.
5. Boosts your mood
Regular exercise helps to increase various "feel good" hormones like oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine. Walking after meals is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to incorporate regular physical activity.
Even just taking a 10 minute walk after every meal adds up to 30 minutes daily. This done every day can compound into significant mood boosting benefits.
6. Reduces blood pressure
Studies have found that adding 3,000 steps per day can help to lower blood pressure. Add this alongside the stress reducing benefits of taking your walk outside and you can double down on the wellness benefits.
7. Improved triglycerides
Walking in general has been found to improve triglycerides, which is an important blood marker for cardiovascular disease risk. However, a recent study found that daily walking of at least 8,000 steps per day was required to see these amazing benefits.
In fact, limiting steps to less than 5,000 steps per day made the body less responsive to exercise. Those who walked less than 5,000 steps per day did not get the same triglyceride lowering and fat burning benefits of exercise as those who walked at least 8,000 steps per day.
By walking after dinner, you can help to contribute to this total goal of a minimum of 8,000 steps per day so that you can reap maximal benefits of walking.
How Long Should Your After Dinner Walk Be?
The great news is that an after dinner walk doesn't need to be very long to reap the benefits. For most of the blood sugar and digestive benefits a simple 5 to 10 minute walk will do the trick.
However, if you want to unlock the additional benefits of better sleep, stress reduction, improved mood and better blood work, then this after dinner walk should be paired with increased walking throughout the day as well.
A good goal to aim for is a minimum of 8,000 steps per day. This is the number many studies have found to start maximizing the benefits of walking. You can split these steps up by taking a short 10 minute walk after each of your meals. Paired with your usual daily activity, this alone should be enough to help you hit that 8,000 step threshold.
But of course, if you prefer to add in slightly longer walks, that's great as well! Assuming you don't have an injury it's fairly difficult to "over-do" walking in the same way that you can over-do other activities like running or lifting weights.
In fact, if you want a simple walking program to get you started, you can find my free 28 day walking for weight loss plan HERE.
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❤️,
Autumn
Autumn Elle Nutrition
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