Walk It Off

The market saturation of step counter apps suggests to me that everyone has caught on to the health benefits of walking.

Whether you’re in the 10,000 steps per day or 7000 steps per day camp, it doesn’t matter. Walking is good. The more you walk, the better health results you get. No upper limit has been identified yet.

The Best Time to Move

While any walking is good, the very best time to walk is after a meal, for two reasons: first, it aids digestion. I’m not exactly sure why this is, but somehow our digestive tract likes it when we’re moving. It may be a gut motility thing, but don’t quote me on that. Bottom line, it works.

Second, even a short 10-minute walk after a meal significantly lowers blood insulin response, which is fantastic since elevated insulin is cooking your brain and driving you day by day toward chronic hyperinsulinemia, destination: diabetes. This works because the simple act of walking triggers your muscles to take up the postprandial glycogen circulating in your blood, lowering blood sugar.

No Time for a Walk? Move Anyway

What if you can’t squeeze in 10 minutes of walking after every meal? On busy days, I like to time my chores to coincide with the completion of my meal. Do the dishes, brush my teeth, take out the compost, bring in the laundry, pack my bag for work. It’s not walking exactly, but I’m on my feet, moving about, and these chores take me up and down a few flights of stairs, and I figure that 10 minutes of some sort of movement after eating trumps just sitting down. It certainly aids my digestion.

Rainstorm? Dance Party

What about the days you just can’t? The other night, all the chores were done, and the temperate rainforest’s atmospheric river was unleashing its full fury upon us after dinner. It was dark, cold, wet, and blustery. What were we to do? Well, we turned on Spotify and had ourselves a 30-minute dance party in the kitchen. As far as I know, there have been no studies conducted on the comparative health benefits of walking versus dancing, but I’m going to guess that they’re not too far apart.

Confessions of a Lazy Night

Bonus tip: Now, this is just between you and me. I’m not so proud of it, but I think I should share it because it might help one or two of you out there.

Just the other night, I was home alone, enjoying a late-night meal in front of Netflix. I know, this is embarrassing to admit on its own. But it gets worse. After stuffing my face, I was in no mood to go out walking alone in the dark. Not because it was raining (it wasn’t) but because I was lazy. Yes, there were dishes in the sink awaiting my attention, but I wanted to finish watching the show. So, do you know what I did? Okay, please don’t share this around. Instead of pausing the show to get up and go move, I just stood up off the couch and marched in place for five or ten minutes. As good as a walk? No, probably not. Better than nothing? Absolutely. Hey, don’t let perfection get in the way of good, am I right?

Movement Is Your Lifeline

Bottom line: movement is your lifeline. Strategically timing your movement to follow meals can have a dramatic impact on your health outcomes. So, get out there and walk it off!