As the saying goes, "Take a hundred steps after a meal, live to be ninety-nine." In real life, this saying has become a golden rule for many people's fitness. In fact, there is a technique to taking a hundred steps after a meal. If you rigidly follow a set pattern and immediately start walking after putting down your chopsticks, it may not lead to fitness but rather harm your body.
From a physiological perspective, immediately after eating, the stomach is in a state of fullness and it is necessary to ensure adequate blood supply to the gastrointestinal tract for initial digestion. After eating, blood flows to the stomach and intestines to aid digestion. If you immediately go for a walk after a meal, blood will flow to the legs for energy supply. This has little impact on young people but can have a negative effect on older people. This is because as people age, the heart and blood vessels, which supply blood, undergo degenerative changes, resulting in reduced blood supply. When both the stomach and lower limbs require a large amount of blood supply, it inevitably increases the burden on the heart, which can have adverse effects on health.
At the same time, the digestive juices in the stomach are produced by the conditioned reflex of ingested food. The stomach needs to be full for the gastric juices to be secreted effectively. If you immediately start walking after a meal, the stomach will inevitably contract rapidly during the activity, pushing incompletely digested food into the small intestine prematurely, preventing the full absorption and utilization of nutrients. In addition, rushing to walk after a meal can cause some blood to be diverted to the muscular system, slowing down the secretion of digestive juices and disrupting normal digestion, which can easily lead to indigestion. Therefore, it is best to rest for a while after a meal to ensure an adequate blood supply to the gastrointestinal tract.
In addition, for those suffering from chronic stomach diseases such as chronic gastritis, peptic ulcers, and gastric prolapse, walking after a meal can increase stomach and intestinal vibrations, stimulating the stomach walls with the food ingested, exacerbating gastric mucosal lesions, and making it difficult for ulcers to heal. Furthermore, walking can aggravate gastric prolapse due to the effects of gravity. Therefore, patients with stomach diseases should not only avoid walking after a meal, but also reduce general movement. They should sit or lie down for a while before being active.
