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After eating a large meal, you might want to take a nap, relax on the couch, or follow it up with a tasty dessert. While those activities are also perfectly fine, research shows that you might want to work in some exercise after eating.
Engaging in light cardio after eating can help stabilize your insulin and glucose levels, which reduces your chances of developing a glucose disorder. For those who have glucose disorders, exercising after meals can help you manage your symptoms and maintain a healthy blood sugar level.
What are insulin and glucose?
Glucose comes from the food you eat. Glucose gives your cells energy, which is necessary for your body to function.
When your glucose levels rise, your pancreas detects it and releases insulin into your blood. The insulin tells your cells to absorb the glucose. As a result, the glucose moves from your blood into your cells.
Unfortunately, many people develop glucose disorders. These include:
- Prediabetes, which is where your body doesn’t use insulin correctly. This means your cells can’t absorb glucose properly, leading to high blood glucose levels. Many people who have prediabetes eventually develop type 2 diabetes.
- Type 1 diabetes, the less common form of diabetes, is where your body destroys the cells that make insulin in your pancreas. You’ll need to take insulin as you can’t produce your own.
- Type 2 diabetes, the more common type of diabetes, is where your body makes insulin but your cells don’t respond to it normally. This means they don’t absorb glucose as well as they should, leading to higher glucose levels. Your body will eventually produce less insulin, which means your blood glucose level will increase.
Many people also have insulin resistance, a condition where cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond to insulin. This means they struggle to absorb glucose from your blood. As a result, your pancreas produces even more insulin. Although it isn’t considered a glucose disorder, people who have insulin resistance tend to become prediabetic.
If you don’t have a glucose disorder, you’ll want to take precautions to avoid developing one. But if you do have a glucose disorder, it’s possible to manage it well and live healthily.
Exercising after meals
Whether you have a glucose disorder or not, it’s recommended that you exercise after a meal.
A recent review in Sports Medicine examined 51 studies. Each study looked at the effects of exercising after a meal. It specifically focused on people without a diagnosed metabolic disorder. The authors concluded that: doing at least 30 minutes of continuous cardio within 6 hours of eating lowers glucose and insulin levels.
The authors hypothesized that exercise helps your body’s cells absorb glucose without insulin. Exercise might increase your cells’ sensitivity to insulin, which helps insulin clear from the bloodstream faster.
A 2016 review of 39 studies looked at the effects of exercise on people with metabolic conditions (such as diabetes and prediabetes) and people without any diagnosed conditions. The study authors concluded that exercising 30 to 45 minutes after eating is the ideal time to curb glucose levels.
In short, no matter who you are, exercising after a meal is a good idea.
Which exercise should I do after eating?
Most of these studies specifically looked at light cardio, namely walking. Light cycling, cardio-based yoga, and rowing are also great post-meal workouts.
Go easy on yourself. Pushing your body too hard — especially when you’re not used to exercising — might not feel too good. Intense cardio after a meal might leave you feeling nauseas.
Instead, find a kind of cardio you enjoy and ease into it. Take small steps to cultivate a habit of exercising after eating. Your body will thank you for it!
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