How long after a meal should you exercise to be good for your health?

Many people have the good habit of exercising every day, but some people are not right when exercising. Some people exercise immediately after a meal, thinking that this will make digestion easier. In fact, exercising immediately after a meal is harmful to the human body. The correct way is to rest for a while after a meal. It is best to exercise about 1 hour after a meal, which is better for the body's digestion. Below, the editor will tell you in detail how long it is best to exercise after a meal.

Because the parasympathetic nerves that control the stomach are excited after a meal, most of the blood is concentrated in the stomach and liver. If you exercise right after a meal, firstly, the stomach that stores a lot of food will be jolted and will constantly pull the ligaments that fix the stomach. In the long run, this will cause the ligaments to loosen and lead to gastroptosis. Secondly, it will disperse the excitement points of blood and nerves, weaken gastric motility, and the food will enter the intestines without being fully ground, which is not conducive to further digestion and absorption.

Doing strenuous exercise immediately after a meal will inhibit the secretion of digestive juices and the peristalsis of the digestive tract. This is because during strenuous exercise, the blood flow to the muscles throughout the body increases, while the blood flow to the stomach and internal organs decreases relatively. These reasons can easily cause indigestion and malabsorption, affect metabolism, and even cause chronic stomach problems. Running or exercising after a meal can sometimes cause abdominal pain, which may be caused by the following reasons:

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.

Don't drink water immediately after exercise. It's best to wait 15 minutes before drinking water. Don't exercise too vigorously to avoid muscle strain. Developing a good habit of exercising every day will help strengthen your physical fitness and promote metabolism, which is extremely good for the human body.