I recently wrote about the benefits of fast walking and itscorrelation with longevity. Good news for slow walkers: walking leisurely aftereach meal can improve digestion and lower blood sugar.
Japanese researchers studied healthy volunteers and foundthat timing seems more important than duration or speed. Walking for 10 minutesimmediately after eating lowers your blood sugar. A brief walk immediatelyafter eating is at least as effective as a longer, 30-minute walk startedlater, and it may be better at blunting the glucose spike. Prior studies showthat walking before meals does not produce the same effect.
This is highly relevant for people with migraines. Many migrainepatients do not metabolize sugar well. Patients tell me that they get amigraine when they miss a meal or after eating sweets or carbohydrate-richfoods.
Researchers have placed continuous glucose monitors (CGMs)on 131 patients with chronic migraines and also performed oral glucosetolerance tests (GTTs) on 247 patients. GTT involves drinking a sugary drinkand measuring blood glucose levels every hour for 2 hours. Compared to what isconsidered a normal GTT response, people with chronic migraine hadsignificantly lower glucose values at fasting and 2 hours. CGM data showed thatmigraine sufferers had greater glucose variability, including day-to-day andwithin-day glucose fluctuations and higher sugar levels. GTT results also identifiedthree groups, each with unique glucose and insulin response profiles.
To help regulate your blood glucose,start walking within about 15 minutes of finishing a meal. As little as 10–20minutes of easy walking may be sufficient, and several short walks after eachmeal are better than one long walk. Obviously, it is even better to walk for 45minutes, walk fast, and do other exercise, particularly weight training.
A general recommendation for everyone,with or without migraines, that aligns with the new food pyramid (2025–2030Dietary Guidelines for Americans) is to reduce carbohydrate intake and eat moreprotein. I also prescribe a diabetes drug, metformin, to some of my patients. Metforminprevents blood glucose from spiking too high. Overweight patients may benefitfrom GLP-1 drugs since there is a direct correlation between weight and thefrequency of migraines.
