Why you should take a 'fart walk' after a meal

Summary

Podcast Summary: Life Kit – "Why You Should Take a 'Fart Walk' After a Meal"

Release Date: December 12, 2024

In the December 12, 2024 episode of NPR's Life Kit, host Marielle Seguera delves into an unconventional yet scientifically backed health tip: taking a "fart walk" after a meal. Featuring insights from NPR's science and health correspondent Maria Godoy, gastroenterologist Chris Damon, and behavioral sleep specialist Luis Bonaver, this episode explores the multifaceted benefits of post-meal walking and provides practical advice for incorporating this habit into daily life.

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1. Introduction to the 'Fart Walk'

Marielle Seguera introduces the concept of a "fart walk," a playful term for taking a leisurely walk after eating. This simple practice is gaining popularity on platforms like TikTok, and Godoy confirms its growing recognition.

Marielle Seguera [00:18]: "Taking a walk or doing some kind of movement after you eat. Going for a fart walk after dinner."

Maria Godoy [04:34]: "Yeah, so they call it a fart walk. And yeah, I just said fart walk on NPR."

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2. The Science Behind the Fart Walk

a. Enhancing Digestion

Walking after a meal stimulates digestion by moving food through the gastrointestinal tract more efficiently. Dr. Chris Damon emphasizes that this activity not only aids in relieving gas but also jumpstarts the digestive process.

Chris Damon [05:03]: "It actually has pretty important benefits for your well being in your belly, so to speak, getting things moving and maybe also beneficial for clearing the air, if you know what I mean."

This enhanced digestion ensures that fiber and other undigested nutrients reach the gut microbiota, supporting a healthy microbiome. A robust microbiome is crucial for brain function, immune health, and metabolism.

b. Regulating Blood Sugar Levels

Post-meal walking plays a significant role in blood sugar regulation. After consuming carbohydrates, glucose levels spike in the bloodstream. Walking helps in blunting this spike by facilitating the uptake of glucose into muscles, thereby reducing the reliance on insulin.

Chris Damon [06:42]: "When we move our muscles, they become sponges for the blood glucose that our gut is absorbing into the bloodstream. And so it basically just pulls all that glucose out of the blood and into the muscles."

This mechanism not only stabilizes energy levels but also diminishes the risk of developing prediabetes and diabetes by lessening the pancreas's workload in producing insulin.

Maria Godoy [07:09]: "It's a hormone that clears glucose out of the blood and into nearby cells. But the cool thing is that when you contract your muscles through walking, they also do this. They clear that blood sugar, even without any insulin present."

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3. Practical Implementation of the Fart Walk

a. How to Walk Effectively

A casual walk post-meal, such as the pace one might take while walking a dog, is sufficient to gain the digestive and blood sugar regulation benefits. For those aiming to improve cardiovascular health, a brisker pace is recommended.

Maria Godoy [08:00]: "You really get a lot of bang for your buck with just nice casual walks after dinner. Like I'm talking about the speed you might walk your dog and that's enough to get your muscles moving and sucking up all that blood sugar."

b. Duration and Frequency

Research suggests that even a brief walk of two to five minutes can aid in blood sugar regulation, with longer walks (up to 15 minutes) offering prolonged benefits. Consistency is key, and incorporating this habit after the largest meal of the day—typically dinner—maximizes its effectiveness.

Maria Godoy [08:28]: "There was one study that found that taking a 15 minute walk at a moderate pace after eating helps regulate blood sugar levels even many hours later."

c. Alternatives for Those with Mobility Restrictions

For individuals unable to walk, alternative movements such as chair aerobics, arm raises, or light upper body resistance training can provide similar benefits by engaging muscles to absorb glucose.

Luis Bonaver [09:47]: "Watching television, stand up during commercials and march in place, wave your arms and legs, walk upstairs. Those muscle contractions will help store the glucose."

Maria Godoy [09:59]: "You know, if you have the mobility, you can also just do jumping jacks. Really the goal is just to move those muscles after a meal."

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4. Additional Benefits: Improved Sleep Quality

Beyond digestion and blood sugar regulation, post-meal walking can enhance sleep quality. By preventing sleep with a full stomach and stabilizing blood sugar levels, individuals may experience more restful nights.

Maria Godoy [11:19]: "A walk can counteract that. And the other thing has to do with regulating your blood sugar, which we've been talking about. Walking can help improve insulin sensitivity, and so that not only benefits your metabolism, but it can also promote more stable energy levels kind of throughout the night."

Luis Bonaver [10:57]: "And what we then do is flop in front of the television or we go to bed."

Thus, a gentle post-dinner walk not only aids physical health but also fosters relaxation and better sleep.

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5. Practical Takeaways

1. Start Simple: Incorporate a casual walk of a few minutes after each meal, especially dinner, to enhance digestion and regulate blood sugar levels.

2. Flexibility in Movement: If walking isn't feasible, engage in alternative muscle movements such as chair exercises or arm raises to achieve similar benefits.

3. Timing is Crucial: Aim to begin the walk within 30 minutes after eating to synchronize muscle activity with the digestive process.

4. Seasonal Relevance: During the holiday season, with increased food intake, adopting the post-meal walk habit can help manage the additional calories and sugars consumed.

Marielle Seguera [13:03]: "You know, if you're gonna get up and move throughout the day, time it after you've just eaten, then you'll get extra benefits."

Maria Godoy [13:30]: "It doesn't have to be a heavy like literally march in place. You know you're still doing something good for your body."

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6. Conclusion

The "fart walk" offers a straightforward, cost-free method to support digestive health, stabilize blood sugar levels, and improve sleep quality. By dedicating just a few minutes after meals to gentle movement, individuals can significantly enhance their overall well-being without the need for intense exercise routines.

Marielle Seguera [13:42]: "Yeah, I love that you think you have to go out for a long run or train for a marathon or something, but you don't."

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For more insightful episodes on health and practical life tips, visit NPR's Life Kit and subscribe to their newsletter at npr.org/lifekitnewsletter.

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Credits:

• Produced by: Margaret Serino
• Visuals Editor: Beck Harlan
• Digital Editor: Mal Gharib
• Supervising Editor: Meghan Cain
• Executive Producer: Beth Donovan
• Production Team: Andy Tagle, Claire Marie Schneider, Sylvie Douglas
• Engineering Support: Becky Brown
• Fact Checking: Ida Porosad

Transcript

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[Marielle Seguera]

You're listening to Life Kit from npr. Hey everybody, it's Marielle. Today's a shorty episode with a simple tip that costs nothing, takes very little time and is hugely beneficial for your body. Taking a walk or doing some kind of movement after you eat. Going for a fart walk after dinner.

[Maria Godoy]

Is something that's gonna help you age. Wonder what kind of walk is Ms. Seneca?

[Marielle Seguera]

You know what type of walk it is?

[Maria Godoy]

I ain't even gotta say it. What type of walk it F A R T. What you gotta say for.

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Yourself on my fart walk?

[Marielle Seguera]

If you're on TikTok, you may have seen people suggesting this. It turns out the science is solid here. NPR science and health correspondent Maria Godoy has been reporting on this and on this episode of Life Kit, she tells us why moving after a meal is good for us and how to go about it specifically. Seriously, it doesn't take much effort and it is a great habit to get into.

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[Laurel Wamsley]

This message comes from NPR sponsor Atlassian. Atlassian makes the team collaboration software that powers enterprise businesses around the world, including over 80% of the Fortune 500. With Atlassian's AI powered software like Jira, Confluence and Loom, you'll have more time to do the work that matters. In fact, Atlassian customers experience a 25% reduction in project duration per year. Unleash the potential of your [e-mail] Support for the following message come from LinkedIn Ads. With LinkedIn Ads, you can reach professionals relevant to your business. Target them by job title, industry, company and more by launching your next campaign with a free $100 ad credit at LinkedIn.com results, terms and conditions apply.

[Loretta DiPietro]

Hi, I'm Laurel Wamsley, and I cover personal finance for npr. That means I report on some of the questions that might keep you or your loved ones up at night, like will I ever be able to buy a home? What about retirement? As interest rates drop, where should I put my money? Economic headlines can be confusing, but NPR is here to help you make sense of them. To support this coverage, please give [e-mail].

[Marielle Seguera]

Before we get back to the show, the end of another year is coming up and our team is looking back at all the tips and advice we've been able to bring you in 2024 because of your support. We've reported on everything from smart credit card habits to ditching your smartphone to napping to breast cancer screening. And it's all because listeners like you step up to support our by giving to your local station or by joining npr. When you sign up for npr, you support our mission of creating a more informed public and get special perks from more than 25 NPR podcasts like sponsor free listening, bonus episodes, and even exclusive and discounted items from the NPR Shop and the NPR Wine Club. Join us on the plus side [e-mail] and thank you. All right, Maria, I have to say I heard of this concept of walking after eating a couple months ago, but I actually heard it referred to as something else. Help me out here. What are people calling this?

[Maria Godoy]

Yeah, so they call it a fart walk. And. Yeah, I just said fart walk on npr.

[Marielle Seguera]

Yeah. Thank you for doing that. I could not.

[Maria Godoy]

Yeah, I take the hits for you. What it means is just, well, we know that walking is always good for you, but you do get specific benefits if you do it after eating. And one of them is that, yes, it can indeed relieve gas, but not only that, it can actually jumpstart digestion. I talked to Chris Damon. He's a gastroenterologist and microbiome researcher at the University of Washington. This is what he told me.

[Chris Damon]

It actually has pretty important benefits for your well being in your belly, so to speak, getting things moving and maybe also beneficial for clearing the air, if you know what I mean.

[Marielle Seguera]

We know what he means, exactly.

[Maria Godoy]

So Dr. Damon says faster digestion has another important benefit. It can also get more fiber and other undigested nutrients to the microbes that live in our lower gut so that they can feast on them. And especially if you eat a fiber rich diet, these microbes will use that fiber to produce molecules that help keep our Brains, our immune systems, and even our metabolisms healthy. Which means, you know, a healthy microbiome. And as past listeners of Life Kit might know, I'm obsessed with the healthy microbiome and fiber.

[Marielle Seguera]

Yeah, this seems like a pretty easy way to do something good for your gut.

[Maria Godoy]

It is. But there are other benefits, and one of the biggest has to do with regulating our blood sugar. And you want to do that for a couple of reasons. So, for starters, blood sugar levels can really influence our energy levels throughout the day and just like how we feel. But the other thing is, if you have chronically high blood sugar, that can damage your blood vessels over time, and that can lead to complications with things like your heart, your kidneys, even your eyes. Yeah, it's not a good thing. But to get those blood sugar benefits, you want to walk specifically after eating. And the reason has to do with what happens during digestion. So when you digest your food, your body will break down carbohydrates in your meal into glucose, which is a sugar. And so that sugar will flood your bloodstream. But if you walk after eating, it can help blunt that spike in blood sugar. Here's Chris Damon again.

[Chris Damon]

When we move our muscles, they become sponges for the blood glucose that our gut is absorbing into the bloodstream. And so it basically just pulls all that glucose out of the blood and into the muscles.

[Maria Godoy]

And so what happens is we end up using that sugar right away to fuel our walk.

[Marielle Seguera]

But don't most people have a built in way of doing this? I thought that was what insulin was for, to clear blood sugar.

[Maria Godoy]

Yeah, that is exactly what insulin does. It's a hormone that clears glucose out of the blood and into nearby cells. But the cool thing is that when you contract your muscles through walking, they also do this. They clear that blood sugar, even without any insulin present. What that means is that our bodies don't have to produce as much insulin. And that's good because then your pancreas doesn't have to work as hard to make insulin. And over time, that can lower your risk of prediabetes and diabetes.

[Marielle Seguera]

Okay, so you're kind of helping your body out with this one.

[Maria Godoy]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Marielle Seguera]

All right, takeaway. One post meal walk can jumpstart your digestion, and it'll help regulate your blood sugar, lowering your risk of pre diabetes and diabetes over time. How fast do you need to walk to get these benefits?

[Maria Godoy]

You know, it depends on what your goals are in terms of helping digestion and regulating blood sugar. You really get a lot of bang for your buck with Just nice casual walks after dinner. Like I'm talking about the speed you might walk your dog and that's enough to get your muscles moving and sucking up all that blood sugar. Now if you also want to boost your cardiovascular health, then yeah, you have to pick up the pace. So make it like a brisk walk, you know. But it really does do something for you, especially if you time it after a meal.

[Marielle Seguera]

And any word on how long we should be doing this to get the gut and blood sugar benefits?

[Maria Godoy]

Yeah, it's really not long at all. There's research that shows just two to five minutes can help regulate your blood sugar after a meal. Although longer is better. There was one study that found that taking a 15 minute walk at a moderate pace after eating helps regulate blood sugar levels even many hours later. But if you don't have time for that 15 minute walk or 30 minute walk, that really shouldn't stop you from doing the five minute walk after eating because it's still going to be good for you. It's really doing something good for your body.

[Marielle Seguera]

Okay, now what if you can't walk, you have mobility restrictions. Are there other kinds of movements that'll give you similar benefits?

[Maria Godoy]

Yeah, it's really all about getting those muscles contracting. So if you can't walk for whatever reason, you can do things like chair aerobics or pump your arms up and down or even some like light upper body resistance training in a chair. I Talked to Loretta DiPietro. She's an exercise and nutrition researcher at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. And she has studied post male walks. And she says it doesn't have to be complicated at all. Like even right now when it's getting dark out earlier and it's cold, you might not want to go outside. DiPietro says just moving indoors can help. If you can do it when you're.

[Luis Bonaver]

Watching television, stand up during commercials and march in place, wave your arms and legs, walk upstairs. Those muscle contractions will help store the glucose.

[Maria Godoy]

You know, if you have the mobility, you can also just do jumping jacks. Really the goal is just to move those muscles after a meal.

[Marielle Seguera]

Takeaway 2 It doesn't take much. Just a few minutes of post meal casual walking can help your body regulate blood sugar. And if you can't walk for whatever reason, other kinds of muscle movement will help too. Let's talk about timing. Is there a specific amount of time you should wait after eating to do all this?

[Maria Godoy]

Yeah, that's a really good question. Question. And you want to do it within about half hour after putting your fork down, your body will have started breaking down your food into glucose and other things. And so you want to be moving as that glucose hits your bloodstream, so your muscles can use it up right away. Loretta DiPietro told me that you can do this after any meal, but if you had to pick one, dinner is going to be your best bet. And that's because for a lot of us, it tends to be the biggest meal of the day.

[Luis Bonaver]

And so you've got a lot of calories going in and all that sugar and fat is circulating in your blood. And what we then do is flop in front of the television or we go to bed.

[Maria Godoy]

A walk can counteract that. And the other thing to note is that a moderate walk after eating can also just help you sleep better.

[Marielle Seguera]

Why is that?

[Maria Godoy]

Well, part of it has to do with not going to bed with a full stomach, right, which can be really uncomfortable. I don't know if you've ever done it, but, you know, as I mentioned before, walking jumpstarts digest. So basically it gets your GI tract moving. It starts the process of getting that food broken down. It's actually interesting because that's part of the reason why when you have, like, abdominal surgery, they make sure that you walk before you leave the hospital and that you have a bowel movement. The walking jump starts that bowel movement and gets you going. So walking really does have that role of starting that whole digestion process. But the other part has to do with regulating your blood sugar, which we've been talking about. I talked to Luis Bonaver, he's a behavioral sleep specialist at Johns Hopkins University, and he told me that blood sugar spikes and crashes can lead to a bad night's sleep. Walking can help improve insulin sensitivity, and so that not only benefits your metabolism, but it can also promote more stable energy levels kind of throughout the night. Buenaver says a gentle walk after dinner can also improve circulation and promote this sense of relaxation, which can also help you sleep better. So it's like a win all around.

[Marielle Seguera]

Takeaway. 3. In terms of timing, aim to fit that walk in about half an hour or less after eating. It may also be most useful after dinner because that tends to be our biggest meal. Also, in general, walking can help you sleep better, so that's a bonus. You know, it occurs to me we've done episodes on moving as much as you can and taking these five minute breaks. Just get up and move a little bit. And this idea of the post meal walk, it's just like another way to fit that movement in. You know, if you're gonna get up and move throughout the day, time it after you've just eaten, then you'll get extra benefits.

[Maria Godoy]

Exactly. Walking, moving is always a good idea. If you do it after eating, you're gonna get extra benefits. And you know, the other thing is we are entering full on holiday season with lots of parties, lots of cookies and cakes, et cetera. Just keep in mind this might be a good time to start that after meal walk habit to help you process all that. And if anything, this whole conversation should just reinforce. It doesn't have to be a heavy like literally march in place. You know you're still doing something good for your body.

[Marielle Seguera]

Yeah, I love that you think you have to go out for a long run or train for a marathon or something, but you don't.

[Maria Godoy]

Exactly. I mean, you can if you want, but you don't have to.

[Marielle Seguera]

All right, Maria, thank you so much.

[Maria Godoy]

Oh, it's my pleasure.

[Marielle Seguera]

Okay, time for a recap. Walking after a meal can help your body digest and also clear blood sugar. You don't need to do much if you only have time for a few minutes or some marches in place or arm raises that'll still help. Aim to do this within 30 minutes of eating and it's most useful after your biggest meal of the day. For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. We've got one on the Benefits of frequent 5 minute walk breaks and another on how to start up a running routine. You can find [e-mail] LifeKit and if you love Life Kit and want even more, subscribe to our [e-mail] lifekitnewsletter. Also, we love hearing from you, so if you have episode ideas or feedback you want to share, email [e-mail] this episode of Life Kit was produced by Margaret Serino. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan and our digital editor is Mal Gharib. Meghan Cain is our supervising editor and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagle, Claire Marie Schneider and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Becky Brown with fact checking by Ida Porosad. I'm Marielle Seguera. Thanks for listening.

[Laurel Wamsley]

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