While the name sounds vulgar and absurd, experts say that “fart walks” can improve blood sugar and long-term health.
Dr. Tim Tiutan, an internal medicine physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said, “Walking after meals does promote intestinal motility, or movement of our intestines to get rid of gas and prevent constipation... I totally support fart walks.”
Mairlyn Smith, author of the book Peace, Love & Fibre, is a champion for fart walks, claiming that they help her and her husband “age beautifully.” She explained that they were looking to maintain their health and avoid blood sugar spikes after meals.
Dr. Tiutan said walking can regulate insulin, prevent blood sugar spikes and lower cancer risks. Gas is produced in the GI tract as digestion occurs. While the digestion process happens on its own, exercise helps.
“The bowel does move well on its own, but it moves better when you move,” said Dr. Christopher Damman, a gastroenterologist at Univ. of Washington Medical Center. “Moving your body will help stimulate and open up your bowels. Whether or not you’d rather pass the gas while you’re outdoors or inside or exercising or not, that is your prerogative.”
Dr. Damman noted that studies have found evidence that post-meal exercise especially benefits blood sugar health. “Some studies have suggested even just five minutes of getting your heart rate up — going for a stroll around the neighborhood, doing some jumping jacks — is sufficient to blunt the post-meal spike in blood sugar levels.”
A study in 2016 used people with blood sugar concerns to look at the effect of walking. It found that 10 minutes of walking after a meal was more helpful for managing blood sugar levels than 30 minutes of continuous walking at any other time.
But you should be prompt about moving after you eat. “If you wait too long, you’ll miss the spike because it starts going up within minutes after you eat when the stomach starts to empty into the small intestine where all of the nutrients, including glucose, get absorbed into the blood,” said Dr. Damman.
Exercising after a meal can help you avoid blood sugar spikes, lower cancer risk, aid digestion and help gas move through the intestines more readily. If you don’t like walking, you can do another activity to get moving. And, if the vulgarity of the name bothers you, call it something else!
