Treadmill Desk Health Benefits: Improve Digestion and Blood Sugar Levels While Walking

We've written extensively about the many benefits of a treadmill desk, including, of course, the dance parties held daily across the nation. Now, the New York Times reports yet another benefit of using a treadmill while you work: walking at a slow pace after a meal aids in digestion and improves blood sugar levels.

If you're generally a healthy person and you take a 15-20 minute stroll about 15 minutes after eating, you'll speed up the rate at which your food is digested, according to a medical study. In order for us to receive the benefits of all that delicious, healthy food we ate at lunchtime, it needs to be digested and absorbed into the bloodstream, so we may as well help it along. Additionally, both our metabolism and digestion rates slow down as we age. Instead of literally sitting there and taking it, we can go for a short walk to encourage our bodies to keep working well.

If you're a person who is managing diabetes, there's even more reason to take that post-meal stroll. A 2009 study concluded that a little light walking has a considerable effect on blood sugar levels. In fact, a 15-minute walk taken after each meal improves blood sugar levels more than one longer walk per day. This is because walking helps send glucose to the muscles instead of letting it sit in the bloodstream.

The evidence demonstrating the amazing health benefits of walking just keeps coming in! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm hopping on my desk treadmill for a post-lunch promenade.

To learn about all the ways a treadmill desk will make your life awesome, visit TheHumanSolution.com.