Is Taking a ‘Fart Walk’ Good for Your Health?

What you once knew as a walk after dinner was renamed a “PET march” on social networks – and the trend at one point. Fans of the so -called PET walk – a short walk taken up to about an hour after eating a meal – it facilitates digestion and relieves gastrointestinal symptoms such as gas and bloating. But what do doctors think?

New name, old concept

“Feeling inflated after a meal is common,” said Dr. David D. Clarke, assistant professor in gastroenterology clinic Emeritus at Oregon Health & Science University and president of the association of the Treatment of Neuroplastic Symptoms. It is because people eat too much, or that they eat too quickly and swallow an excess air, or they drink drinks with dissolved gas like soda or beer.

To counter symptoms like these and help relieve gas naturally, walking after dinner can help, doctors agree. Walking can improve muscle contractions of the gastrointestinal tract – a wave -shaped movement called peristalsis – which can help pass the gas in the form of beers or flatulence, explains Clarke. Research has also long supported a postprandial walk for a different reason: it helps reduce blood sugar.

The various advantages of a PET walk

This is a social media trend that doctors can be late. A promenade on the FET helps to relieve the symptoms of bloating and gas and promotes the motility of the intestines, explains Dr. Shawn Khodaddian of Manhattan Gastroenterology in New York. Clarke agrees; A light to moderate exercise, like walking, helps the stomach emptying more quickly, improving transit through the intestinal tract and eliminating gas and waste through the digestive system, which can all help to mitigate problems such as bloating and constipation, he says. “Walking promotes muscle contractions in the stomach and intestines that can lead to belching and a fart,” he said. This faster emptying “will also decrease the time when acid is present in the stomach”, which relieves stomach burns in most people, says Clarke. (However, some people having a mediocre tone in the muscle of the sphincter – at the junction of the esophagus and the stomach – may feel more acid reflux when the contractions of the stomach are stimulated by walking, he warns.)

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Walking on PET can be particularly beneficial for those who have medical conditions such as irritable colon syndrome (IBS) and metabolic syndrome. “There have been studies that show that mobility in general can lead to a decrease in the feeling of gas and bloating in patients with SCI symptoms,” said Khodadadian. In addition, the ability of a post-devil walk to better regulate blood sugar is particularly useful for people with metabolic syndrome, he says. Short walks after eating can also benefit the heart: helping to avoid weight gain, improve traffic, reduce blood pressure, support the overall cardiovascular shape, explains the Khodadadian.

Other advantages of marching on farts could include the reduction in diabetes risk, says Clarke. “Walking after a meal facilitates the elimination of blood sugar by muscles and thus reduces the need for secretion of insulin by the pancreas,” said Clarke, which could reduce the risk of future development of diabetes.