Sitting all day and feeling bloated? Why walking could be the missing piece for your gut

We spend a lot of time talking about what goes into your gut.

Eat more fiber.

Eat more vegetables.

Eat enough protein.

Take your probiotics.

But there is another question we don't ask often enough: How much are you moving? Because your gut has one very important job after you eat. Keep things moving.

Food needs to travel through your digestive tract. Gas needs to move through. Waste needs to move toward the exit. And your lifestyle may be making that harder than it needs to be.

Think about a normal workday. You wake up and sit down for breakfast. Then you sit in your car and then at your desk for hours. You sit through meetings and traffic on the way home and then finally sit on the sofa after dinner.

And somewhere in between all that sitting, you wonder:

"Why am I so bloated?"

Or:

"Why am I not going to the bathroom regularly?"

Your diet may not be the only reason for that. Your gut is built to move. Your intestines aren't just hollow tubes waiting for food to pass through them.

They are muscular organs. They constantly contract and relax to move food, gas and waste through your digestive tract. This process is called peristalsis. And prolonged inactivity appears to affect this process.

We have an interesting study that shows just how much inactivity can matter. Researchers placed healthy men on bed rest for 35 days. By the end of the study, 60 per cent developed functional constipation. They also had fewer bowel movements and more gas. Now, this doesn't mean your office chair is equivalent to 35 days of bed rest.

What it does show is that when the body is kept inactive for a prolonged period, bowel function can change. And that brings us to something much more practical. What happens when you do the opposite?

Maybe the simplest thing you can do is walk. You don't need to run a marathon or get into gym mode for this. Just walking may be enough to make a difference.

Research suggests that people who are physically active tend to have less constipation than people who are inactive. Even light-to-moderate activity, such as walking, may help stimulate movement through the intestines.

And there is a particularly convenient time to try it: After you've eaten. Because eating itself gives your digestive system a little push. Your meal already tells your colon to get moving.

When you eat, your stomach sends signals that can increase activity in your colon. This is called the gastrocolic response. So instead of finishing your meal and immediately sitting on the sofa, try a 10–15 minute walk. Research suggests this may help with bloating, abdominal discomfort and that overly full feeling.

You're not walking to 'burn off' your meal. You're simply adding some movement when your digestive system is already working. And if you're wondering why walking can sometimes make bloating feel better, there's another interesting piece to this.

Your body position can affect gas movement

Gas has to travel through your intestines before it can leave your body.

Research suggests that intestinal gas moves more easily when you're upright than when you're lying down. That may be one reason why getting up and walking around can sometimes make bloating feel better. So the next time you finish dinner and feel like your stomach is a balloon, you don't necessarily need to lie down and wait for it to pass.

Get up and walk. Your gut may appreciate it. But the effects of movement may go beyond bowel movements and bloating. It may also have a relationship with the trillions of bacteria living inside your gut.

Movement and the gut microbiome

As I keep mentioning, your gut is home to trillions of microorganisms. And it is influenced by many things, including what you eat and how you live.

Research has found that people who are more sedentary can have lower levels of some bacteria associated with the production of butyrate.

Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid produced when certain gut bacteria ferment fiber. It is an important fuel source for the cells lining your colon.

People with better physical fitness also tend to have greater diversity in their gut microbiome and higher levels of some bacteria considered beneficial.

But this doesn't mean that sitting alone causes these changes in your gut bacteria. People who exercise regularly may also eat more fiber, sleep better, have a healthier body weight and have better metabolic health. All of those things can influence the microbiome.

Sitting has been linked to other gut problems too

Research has also found associations between sedentary behavior and several digestive and metabolic conditions, including acid reflux, IBS, diverticular disease, fatty liver disease and gallbladder problems. But again, an association doesn't mean that sitting directly causes these diseases.

Diet, body weight, metabolic health, sleep and other lifestyle factors can all play a role. So I wouldn't tell you that your chair is causing your gut problems. But if you spend almost your entire day sitting, there is a very simple change you can make: Move more often.

You don't need a gym to move more or suddenly start exercising for an hour every day. For most adults, around 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week is a reasonable overall goal. But movement doesn't only happen during a workout.

Getting up from your desk regularly, walking around the office, taking the stairs, walking after a meal, even ordinary household activities involve movement. At the same time, more exercise isn't always better for your gut. Very intense or prolonged exercise can cause nausea, abdominal pain, cramps or diarrhea in some people.

So this isn't about pushing yourself harder and harder. It's about avoiding a lifestyle where most of your waking hours are spent sitting. We often look for complicated solutions for our gut health: supplements, probiotics, special diets and new food trends.

But sometimes, one of the simplest things you can do is also one of the easiest to forget. Get up and move. And especially after you've eaten, consider taking a short walk. Because gut health isn't only about what you put into your body. It's also about what you do with it afterward.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.