What Is a 'Fart Walk' — and Can It Improve Your Health?

• Wellness influencer Mairlyn Smith coined the term “Fart Walk” for an after-dinner walk that gets the stomach moving
• “Fart Walk” May Help Regulate Blood Sugar, Cleveland Clinic Dr. Matthew Kampert tells PEOPLE — no matter what time of day you do it
• “Walking is useful,” says Kampert, adding that “the farting aspect gets a lot of attention because it’s comical.”

Taking a walk after dinner with flatulence can limit the risk of type 2 diabetes and help regulate blood sugar, according to wellness influencer Mairlyn Smith, who has dubbed the post-dinner walk she regularly takes with her husband the “Fart Walk.”

In the caption of the now-viral video, which has been viewed more than 465,000 times, she says that “walking after dinner may help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.”

Experts say he’s right about the health benefits.

dr. Matthew Kampert, a sports and exercise medicine physician with orthopedics and endocrinology at the Cleveland Clinic, tells PEOPLE that reducing stomach pressure is just one of the “Fart Walk’s” benefits.

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As for your digestion — and the aforementioned farts — he tells PEOPLE “after you eat a meal, you have what’s called the gastrocolic reflex. So whenever you put things in your mouth, eat and swallow, it stimulates your intestines to move things forward. So there’s room for the food you eat.”

“So it’s going to trigger things to empty out of your stomach, small intestine, and colon,” Kampert tells PEOPLE. “The colon is where most of the bacteria are. It creates gas.”

The movement itself helps, he says. “Every time you exercise — especially walking or running — you’re using some of your muscles called the hip flexors, specifically the PSOAS muscle. The large intestine is located right above these muscles [and they] they gently massage the colon.”

A picture of someone walking outside.

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But while farting around town, you may actually be reducing your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, as Smith said in her video.

“The whole walking thing after eating will help you control your blood sugar. But the thing is: walking on any moment will help you control your blood sugar,” Kampert tells PEOPLE.

“I’d actually argue that it’s better to exercise before eating,” he adds.

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And if you’re sedentary or pre-diabetic, he says exercise is really key, and something low-impact like the Fart Walk would be a good place to start.

“It’s actually the people who work at the table. They sit all day, they’re middle-aged, they’re slowly gaining weight, their blood sugar is slowly rising,” says Kampert. “They’re in that pre-diabetic range.”

Picture of a person standing on a scale.

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As the Cleveland Clinic explains, type 2 diabetes occurs when “cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond to insulin as they should. Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas that is essential for life and for regulating blood sugar levels.”

It can be caused by physical inactivity and excess fat — and up to 95% of the 37 million people in the US with diabetes have type 2.

Kampert cited a study that showed “exercise is twice as effective as metformin,” which he explained is “one of the most common medications for diabetes and pre-diabetes.”

Overall, he says, “I think the fart aspect gets a lot of attention because it’s comical and attractive.”

As for how she came up with the name, Smith explains, “We eat a lot of fiber, so we get gas. You fart when you walk, so that’s why I called it that.”

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However, Kampert is keen to emphasize that this benefit is mainly related to getting the body moving. “The point I would make is that walking is beneficial. So do it early in the morning if that works better with your schedule.”

“There are benefits to being physically active at any time of the day.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education