Starting point

Blood sugar rises to a varying degree after meals that contain carbohydrates. Many people then sit down on the sofa or at their desk. This impulse uses exactly those minutes.

The small step

  1. Walk for about 10 minutes after your main meals. The 10 minutes are a practical guide from a small study in type 2 diabetes [1], not a scientifically established limit. Where you go does not matter: a loop around the house, the walk to the letterbox or a phone call on the move.
  2. Set off soon after eating, for example straight after clearing the table. That is plausible, because this is when sugar rises. Whether an early start brings more than a later one is not clearly established [2, 3, 6].
  3. Break up long periods of sitting at other times too. The Swiss physical activity recommendations say: every movement counts, and long periods of sitting should be interrupted regularly [5].

What lies behind it

During physical activity, the muscles take up more glucose from the blood. The rise in blood sugar after a meal can therefore be lessened.

Results

Several meta-analyses show that exercise after eating dampens the rise in sugar in the hours that follow, including in type 2 diabetes [2, 6, 7]. The effect is small to moderate. The underlying studies are mostly small, short and designed very differently, and the risk of bias is often high [2, 3].

Evidence short term signals from meta-analyses, long term open

The short-term effect on blood sugar is documented by several studies. The long-term health benefit of targeted short walks after meals has not yet been studied sufficiently.

Limits

It is open which timing and which duration work best. The results on this conflict, and a clear advantage of exercise after rather than before eating was seen only in people without diabetes [2, 3, 6, 7]. Whether short walks after meals improve HbA1c in the long term or prevent complications has not yet been studied sufficiently [3].

When medical advice is useful

If you take insulin or sulfonylureas, exercise can lead to low blood sugar. Discuss with your treatment team how to prevent it and what to do if it happens [4]. Also seek advice if you have chest pain or shortness of breath on exertion, or if you have a known heart condition [4]. The same applies to numbness in the feet or pressure sores on the foot [4]. During acute illness, such as an infection with fever, it is better to take a break [4].

DMC³ assessment

A walk after eating is a small, low risk step that fits easily into daily life. In practice it is a sensible addition, but not a way to reach blood sugar targets. It complements the recommended minimum of 150 minutes of endurance activity per week and strength training, but replaces neither these nor treatment [4, 5].