For centuries, people would take a walk after meals. Walking is always an important part of life. What’s the reason? We don’t know. But now you can add at least one reason to a post-meal walk — a new study said it may lower your blood sugar.
The study compared the impact of sitting, standing and walking on the body’s blood sugar levels. People were asked to either stand or walk for two to five minutes every 20 to 30 minutes over the course of a full day. “The total activity time throughout the observation was roughly 28 minutes with the standing and light walking breaks lasting between 2 to 5 minutes,” Buffey said.
“Intermittent (间歇的) standing breaks throughout the day and after meals reduced glucose (葡萄糖) on average by 9.51% compared to sitting for long periods. However, intermittent light-intensity walking throughout the day saw a greater reduction of glucose by an average of 17.01% compared to long-time sitting,” said study coauthor Aidan Buffey. “This suggests that breaking long sitting with standing and light-walking breaks throughout the day is beneficial for glucose levels,” he added.
If people went for a short walk after eating, their blood sugar levels rose and fell more gradually. Keeping blood sugars from spiking is good for the body as fast rises and falls can raise the risk of diabetes and heart disease, experts say. Studies have shown blood sugar levels will rise quickly within 60 to 90 minutes after eating, so it’s best to get moving soon after finishing a meal.
How does movement help? Muscles need glucose to function, so movement helps clear sugars from the bloodstream — that’s the reason why many runners rely on carbo loading before a marathon or race, for example.
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