PLX Academy · News · 09 September 2022
Just two minutes of walking after eating can help blood sugar, according to a new article published in CNN. Physicians should be the role models for physical activity, which is recommended to patients, and this is one more reason why they should practice walking.
Standing after a meal can help, too, but not as much as putting one foot in front of the other. “Intermittent standing breaks throughout the day and after meals reduced glucose on average by 9.51% compared to prolonged sitting.However, intermittent light-intensity walking throughout the day saw a greater reduction of glucose by an average of 17.01% compared to prolonged sitting,”shows a 2022 study in the journal Sports Medicine.
“This suggests that breaking prolonged sitting with standing and light-walking breaks throughout the day is beneficial for glucose levels,”study coauthor Aidan Buffey, says to CNN.
The meta-analysis, published in February, analyzed seven studies comparing the impact of sitting, standing and walking on the body’s insulin and blood sugar levels. People in the studies were asked either to stand or walk for two to five minutes every 20 to 30 minutes over the course of a full day.
Standing was better than heading straight for the desk or the couch to sit when it came to blood sugar levels, but it did not help lower insulin in the bloodstream, the analysis found. However, if people went for a short walk after eating, their blood sugar levels rose and fell more gradually, and their insulin levels were more stable than either standing or sitting, the study noted.
Keeping blood sugar from spiking is good for the body as large spikes and fast falls can raise the risk of diabetes and heart disease, experts say. Studies have shown blood sugar levels will spike within 60 to 90 minutes after eating, so it is 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 is the reason why many runners rely on carb-loading before a marathon or race, for example. If you want more out of your efforts than lower blood sugar,meet the minimum physical activity standards for Americans: 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity and two days of muscle strengthening activity a week.
“People who are physically active for about 150 minutes a week have a 33% lower risk of all-cause mortality than those who are physically inactive,” the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention notes.
Translated, that means if you get up and move for just 21.43 minutes each day of the week, you cut your risk of dying from anything by one-third.