One of the biggest lessons I learned from wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) was just how powerful a post-dinner walk is for metabolic health.
There are a couple of reasons for this:
1. Our metabolism slows at night.
If we don’t burn off the glucose from dinner, the excess is converted into triglycerides – not ideal for long-term health. A simple walk helps clear that glucose before we sleep.
2. Digestion affects sleep, and sleep affects everything.
A walk helps digestion, and better digestion often leads to better sleep – another massive lever for metabolic health. It also naturally creates some space between dinner and bedtime.
But I kept wondering: How long of a walk is enough?
I realized it depends on what you ate – a carb-heavy meal requires more effort than one centered on protein and fiber. Still, I found it helpful to have a simple rule of thumb. And with ChatGPT’s help, the rule I’ve settled into is 2,500 steps.
This translates roughly to 30 minutes of walking. Just enough to meaningfully lower post-meal glucose for most dinners.
Every night, I check my step count and aim for 2,500 more before bed. Some days I exceed it, but having the number makes the goal incredibly tangible. And making it tangible has dramatically increased my consistency.
That’s the lesson – the clearer and more concrete we make our goals, the more likely we are to achieve them.
(Typed as I walk my 2500 steps :-))
