When is the best time to exercise after a meal?

Nowadays, many people pay much more attention to their bodies than before, because only with a healthy body can one work and live better. Therefore, many people now pay more attention to health preservation, especially through exercise. However, some people exercise blindly, which may cause greater harm to the body, especially exercising after meals. So when is the best time to exercise after meals? Let me introduce it to you!

It is not advisable to run or exercise after a meal. Because after eating, the digestive organs need a large amount of blood supply and have to work intensively. If you run or exercise at this time, your skeletal muscles will inevitably steal a lot of blood, resulting in ischemia of the digestive tract. Not only will the gastrointestinal motility be weakened, but the secretion of digestive juice will also be significantly reduced, which will cause indigestion.

Running or exercising after a meal can sometimes cause abdominal pain. Why is this? The reasons may be as follows:

1. After a meal, the stomach is full of food, and the gastrointestinal tract vibrates during exercise, causing the mesentery connecting the gastrointestinal tract to be stretched, causing abdominal pain.

2. During exercise, blood distribution shifts from the digestive tract to the skeletal muscles, causing ischemia in the digestive tract and leading to spasm of the gastrointestinal smooth muscles, thus causing abdominal pain.

3. During exercise, the body's oxygen demand increases. People who lack exercise usually have small lung capacity, so when they try to breathe hard, they are likely to have shallow and rapid breathing. This reduces the negative pressure in the chest cavity, causing obstruction of blood return to the liver, which leads to liver congestion and increased tension in the liver capsule, causing liver pain, which manifests as pain in the right upper abdomen.

4. Other gastrointestinal diseases, including appendicitis, happen to occur during exercise after a meal.

In the first three cases, the abdominal pain will be relieved quickly after the exercise stops. The fourth situation is an organic disease. The pain lasts longer than the first three, and in most cases it will gradually worsen. For this kind of abdominal pain, you should go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment in time.

The length of the interval between a meal and exercise largely depends on the type of meal and the amount consumed. Other determining factors include age, physical condition, and exercise intensity. Let's assume that this reader is an average middle-aged person! If you have a large meal before exercise, and most of the meals are high in protein and fat, the interval should be more than two hours; if the meal is small and mainly carbohydrates, the interval can be shortened to 30 minutes to 1 hour. It's best to make any changes gradually, but if any muscular or digestive problems occur, pause.

Generally speaking, it is more appropriate for people who do not exercise regularly or those who are weak to exercise 0.5 to 1 hour after a meal. Formal exercise and intense competition are best done 1.5 hours after a meal. It is not advisable to do strenuous exercise after a meal, but it does not rule out doing relaxing exercise after a meal. Everyone can do appropriate exercise according to their own conditions, such as walking or doing other light activities, which is beneficial to improving health.

You cannot do strenuous exercise right after a meal because your stomach is full of food. If you exercise vigorously, it may cause stomach pain. It is best to exercise half an hour or an hour after a meal. You can exercise after a meal according to your physical condition. It is best not to do too much strenuous exercise. It is better to take a brisk walk or a stroll.