- Farting in the street can help your long-term health
- If done at the right time can help intestinal function
- Can help to regulate blood sugar levels
Would you fart in the street? No? If you go on a ‘fart walk’ after a meal and do that it could help to improve your long-term health, according to scientists.
In general, breaking wind, especially when done loudly, is frowned on in polite society. Years of social conditioning – and maybe some tellings-off from parents – have meant that most of us, when feeling the need, do it in private, or hold it in.
But now scientists are saying that going for a ‘fart walk’ after a meal could actually be beneficial to your long-term health, especially if you are aged over 45.
Benefits of a fart walk
In an Instagram reel, Dr Tim Tiutan, an internal medicine phsycian at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, confirmed that it can have health benefits. “Walking after meals does promote intestinal motility – or movement of our intestines to get rid of gas and prevent constipation,” he said.
Tiutan added that walking after a meal can help to prevent blood sugar spikes, help to regulate insulin and even lower the risk of developing cancer. “I totally support fart walks,” he said.
Farting, while undeniably funny, is a just a part of nature – it is caused by the digestive system. While our bodies are designed to move waste through the intestines to be finally excreted, exercise can give that process a helping hand.
So going for a walk after a meal can stimulate the digestive system, and passing gas is a part of that. Of course, if it is done outside it means any smells may dissipate faster than they would if released indoors, especially if there is a breeze.
Regulate blood sugar
Going for a fart walk immediately after a meal could have other health benefits too, such as mitigating against spikes in blood sugar levels.
After eating, your blood sugar levels rise, as sugars from whatever has been eaten enter the bloodstream. While the hormone insulin is usually used by the body to regulate blood sugar, going for a walk – even just round the block for a few minutes – can help to reduce the spike in blood sugar.
For people aged 45 and over, or are overweight or have a family history of type 2 diabetes, it can help to lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
