Why a 10-Minute Walk After Meals Works

A ten-minute walk after a meal is the cheapest thing available to most people with diabetes, and the timing of it matters more than the length.

A randomised crossover trial tested exactly this. Participants took a 75 g glucose load, then either rested, walked for ten minutes immediately, or walked for thirty minutes starting half an hour later. The short walk taken immediately cut the peak glucose from 181.9 mg/dL to 164.3 mg/dL, and the two-hour average from 135.8 to 127.9 mg/dL. The authors concluded that a brief walk straight after eating is an effective and practical way to manage the rise after a meal.

Making it happen

• Go straight after eating, not an hour later.
• Ten minutes is enough to be worth doing — do not skip it because you cannot manage thirty.
• Pick the meal with the most rice or roti in it. For most Indian households that is dinner.
• Indoors counts. Terrace, corridor, up and down the stairs, around the house on a phone call.

The Knowledge Base explains why a short walk helps so much at the level of what your muscles are doing.