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One minute I’m enjoying the dinner I’ve been looking forward to all day, the next I’m so tired I can barely move from the sofa. Crashing after eating is common—a 2024 study showed that up to 30% of people experience a blood sugar crash, leading to fatigue and mood changes—but it isn’t something you should grin and bear.
While it may feel like the last thing you want to do, various studies show that short walks after eating could stabilize insulin and blood sugar levels—with as little as two minutes of walking having a positive effect when compared to sitting down or standing.
It can work wonders for bloating, too. Science shows that a quick trot around the block after meals could stimulate digestion and help move food through your digestive tract more quickly, expelling trapped gas.
I rarely suffer with bloating, but as someone who often feels tired after meals, I was intrigued to determine whether walking after eating actually works. Turns out, it has even more benefits. Here’s what happened, and why you need to try it.
My Walking-After-Eating Routine
On office days, I waited 10 minutes before heading out for a walk after lunch. On WFH days, I walked after dinner—usually outside, but on my under desk treadmill if it was raining outside. Both timings offered big benefits, and I found that switching up the times of day that I walked helped with consistency; the key is to adapt your routine to suit your lifestyle.
If walking after breakfast suits you best, do that. If walking after dinner is more realistic, go for it. As sports and exercise medicine consultant Dr Rebecca Robinson tells me, the time of day that you walk doesn’t have a huge bearing over the benefits, so long as you start moving within 30 minutes after eating.
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As for the duration of my walks, I experimented with between 10-30 minutes and found that my sweet spot was 10-15 minutes. Dr Robinson says this is ideal for results; any longer and you could start to experience digestive issues. She’s steadfast that you also stick to a moderate pace—not a speed walk, but a steady, gentle pace, to slowly encourage digestion.
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Monday: Walk after lunch
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Tuesday: Walk after lunch
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Wednesday: Walk after dinner
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Thursday: Walk after lunch
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Friday: Walk after dinner
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Saturday: Walk after dinner
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Sunday: Walk after dinner
5 Things I Learned From Walking After Eating
I no longer experienced energy crashes
Not once did I find myself crashing after eating if I followed up meals with a 10-15-minute stroll. I returned feeling re-energized, and when I ask Dr Robinson how something as simple as walking could be so powerful, she explains: “The contractions of your muscles during walking increase glucose uptake as the glucose is metabolized by your muscles for energy. This reduces the amount of sugar in your bloodstream, which is what makes you feel tired.”
But I did crash if I walked for longer than 20 minutes
I was surprised to notice that walking for just 10-15 minutes longer than my usual 10-15-minute duration meant that I’d come home and feel tired again. Not quite as exhausted as if I hadn’t gone for a walk at all, but still, tired. Dr Robinson tells me this is due to “competition between muscular blood flow and splanchnic flow, which is the blood flow in your digestive area.” As you start to pump blood towards your muscles as you exercise for longer periods of time, your digestive organs are forced to fight for blood to help them digest the food you’ve just eaten.
“This can trigger your sympathetic nervous system—your fight or flight response—as your body is trying to produce energy and direct blood to two different systems. This is what induces tiredness,” she adds. After experiencing a few crashes, I reduced my walks back down to 10-15 minutes and my energy stayed consistent.
I didn’t experience any bloating
While I don’t typically experience bloating, I do battle with the occasional bout if I eat a meal particularly high in fiber, like a big salad. After incorporating walking after eating, I didn’t suffer at all.
“Movement is great for stimulating gut motility—the movement of food through your gastrointestinal tract—at any time,” Dr Robinson tells me. “It activates your enteric nervous system—a complex network of neurons within your digestive tract, which regulates various digestive functions, including swallowing, enzyme release, blood flow control, and elimination. It also increases your parasympathetic nervous system tone—your rest and digest response—as it speeds up motility and reduces transit time for food in your gut.” In layman’s terms, by encouraging efficient digestion, my body can relax sooner.
My wakeups during the night reduced
Overall, my Oura ring tells me I’m a good sleeper. I fall asleep easily with an average latency time of 7 minutes; I get 8-9 hours per night; and I clock around 1 hour 45 minutes of deep sleep per night. But I do wake up once or twice. I fall asleep again almost immediately, but I’ve never quite determined why I wake, or how to stop. After three days of walking after eating, I noticed that I was only waking up once a night; after around a week, I was sleeping right through.
Dr Robinson tells me this is down to calming activity in my brain’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis—a neuroendocrine system that regulates your body’s response to stress. “The more regulated this system is, the less cortisol you’ll produce, which means your body feels less stressed and can sleep deeper,” Dr Robinson says. “Walking after eating also regulates your autonomic nervous system, which manages your sympathetic and parasympathetic responses, so when you sleep, your body knows it’s in parasympathetic (rest) mode.”
My rosacea improved
A benefit I never saw coming was an improvement in the redness on my nose. Seven years since I was diagnosed with rosacea at 24, and I know how to manage it. I avoid all triggers: spicy food, alcohol, dairy, gluten, cacao, and intense exercise, but I haven’t found anything that has improved my always-slightly-red baseline. Two weeks into walking after eating, I’m convinced my redness has reduced.
While Dr Robinson isn’t a dermatologist, she tells me, “It could well have an effect, since it can reduce systemic inflammation by reducing circulating levels of cell messenger cytokines, which contribute to redness.” She says walking after eating could also help by improving insulin release and improving gut motility and microbiome, since our gut health is linked to our skin health.
Conclusion
Between the 12-3-30 workout, plank challenges, and Stairmaster workouts, I’ve tried many trends, but few stick. Walking after eating, however, is something I’ll 100% be maintaining. With big rewards and zero risks (unless you’re injured – always check with a medical professional if this is you), it’s one of the most effective, sustainable and underrated hacks I’ve come across, and one that I’d urge every one of you reading this to try.
Dr Robinson’s advice for getting started: “Keep exercise light to allow your body to digest your meal and avoid stomach cramps. Begin with a little to build a sustainable habit that you can maintain. A moderate-paced 10-20-minute walk three to five times a week is likely to confer benefits.”
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