Fart walks – the gut health trend making a big noise in wellness
Going for a walk and passing wind after a main meal has multiple health benefits according to experts, from boosting digestion to improving blood sugar control. But is it really better out than in?
In an age when the biggest nutrition trend of the moment is eating 30g of fibre per day, there will inevitably be consequences – gassy ones. TikTok has stepped in to fill the vacuum with the ‘fart walk’, a viral trend started by 60-something Canadian actress, cookbook author and self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Fibre’ Mairlyn Smith, who invented the fart walk hashtag. Fart walking has since featured in hallowed publications such as Time magazine and Oprah Daily.
It’s one social media trend that experts can get behind – so long as there’s no headwind, one presumes.
A ‘fart walk’ is as simple as it sounds: “It entails going for a gentle walk after a main meal – and, yes, it helps you pass wind more comfortably,” says registered nutritionist and fart walk enthusiast Emma Bardwell. Her forthcoming book, The Fibre Effect (tips and recipes for the 96 per cent of us in the UK who don’t get our recommended 30g per day), will likely generate armies of new fart walkers.
“The name’s tongue-in-cheek, but the idea has some science behind it,” she explains. “Movement really does help activate your digestion. When you walk, your core and abdominal muscles activate, which gets your gut moving and helps shift trapped gas through the intestines.”
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Farting while walking isn’t new, and, of course, we’ve all done it. Some people do it deliberately. ‘Crop dusting’, as it’s known in the US, is the act of walking past someone and surreptitiously dropping one in your wake.
But now, with its elevated status as a health activity, fart walking no longer demands an apology, but rather, commands a round of applause.
Smith claims that taking a moderate 15-minute fart walk an hour or so after eating helps her and her fibre-loving husband “age wonderfully” because it reduces the chances of type 2 diabetes by improving blood sugar control. Blood sugar spikes can increase as we get older, “especially after 40”, she says.
Is she right? And what’s the best way to do a fart walk? We asked the experts.
How to do a fart walk
Wait 30 to 60 minutes after a main meal, the time it takes for your food to pass from your stomach to your intestines (how long depends on the meal) and go for a light-to-brisk walk of at least ten minutes, parping as you pace.
Avoid anything high intensity, as it’s counterproductive. “For digestion, you need a good blood supply to your digestive system, and high-intensity exercise draws away from those areas, so it actually slows down your digestive process,” explains gastroenterologist and Correxiko collagen founder, Dr Dinuk Dissanayake. Remember, you want to be in a calm state to ‘rest and digest’ – and let rip.
What are the benefits of fart walks?
1. Help with blood sugar control
There are no direct studies on fart walks, but taking a 30-minute walk after a main meal has indeed been shown to help with blood sugar control in a small study (wind was not recorded).
When you walk, “your muscles act like a glucose sponge,” says Bardwell, soaking up the glucose in the blood from your meal to power up the large muscles of the glutes, quads and core.
This is important as we age, as the pancreas becomes less efficient at removing glucose from the blood, adds Dr Dinuk. “Your insulin release isn’t as good as when you’re younger, so as you age, your blood sugar can spike a bit,” he says. “But when you get active and move your skeletal muscles, they take in the glucose, so it helps moderate your blood sugar spikes.”
Bardwell adds that a post-prandial lunchtime walk “stops that mid-afternoon crash,” too.
2. Gut motility and digestion
Of course, walking helps get everything moving on the inside, too, unlike staying sedentary after a meal. “Walking stimulates peristalsis, the wave-like movement that pushes food and gas through your digestive tract,” says Bardwell. “It’s like giving your gut a gentle nudge to keep things moving.”
She adds, “It’s particularly great for people with constipation or slower digestion. This is common in midlife as oestrogen actually helps with peristalsis. When hormones dip, digestion can slow. But really, it’s something we can all try, especially if you spend most of the day sitting.”
3. Bloating, IBS and menopausal gut sensitivity
“If you ever feel bloated, uncomfortable or just sluggish after a meal, a ten-minute stroll can make a world of difference,” says Bardwell.
If you suffer from IBS, a condition in which the lining of the intestines is hypersensitive to certain foods and gas, you may have more of a pressing need to release trapped wind. Intestinal sensitivity is a common menopause symptom, too, says Dr Dinuk. “There are a lot of nerve endings in your intestinal lining, and they get a bit more sensitive with menopause.”
If you haven’t fart-walked before menopause, it may be your moment to start.
4. Good for your nervous system and mood
Bardwell argues that the benefits of fart walks go way beyond gut health. improving circulation, getting a dose of daylight, and giving your mind a reset. “It’s a small habit that supports your gut, your energy and your overall wellbeing,” she says. “Think of it not just as a fart walk but a mini mind-body-mood boost. Plus, it gets you outside, changes your environment and gives your nervous system a breather.
“It’s good for your gut, your glucose, your head and your mood – all from something that takes ten minutes and costs nothing. Win-win!”
Is it bad to hold in your farts?
“It’s not poisonous or harming you,” reassures Dr Dinuk. That’s a relief!
It’s only bad if it makes you feel bad. Adds Bardwell: “We laugh about it, but holding in farts can make you really uncomfortable. It creates pressure, bloating, cramps and even pain. A quick walk helps you release it naturally and discreetly, so you’re not sitting there suffering through it. It’s permission to do what your body needs and not feel embarrassed about it,” she adds, “great if you’re in the first throes of a relationship!”
If, as Dr Dinuk tells me, we produce between 500ml and two litres of gas per day, where does it go if you don’t let it out? “Sometimes you can burp it up. If you hold it in, you can reabsorb the air. The intestines have a large blood supply, and it can be reabsorbed into your bloodstream, and then you breathe it out. That’s why we do nitrogen breath tests for certain intolerances, because your intestines can reabsorb those gases.”
What if you were just less gassy in the first place?
There are many reasons why we have excess air in our systems. The first is mechanical, swallowing air while we are eating, or chewing gum, or gas from fizzy drinks. Surprisingly, drinking through a straw draws in more air, too, according to Dr Dinuk.
The second source of gas is created by our microbiome in the intestines, by bacteria digesting food. Being gassy can be a sign of a microbiome imbalance, for which a pre- and probiotic supplement can help. Dr Dinuk suggests his own Correxiko Probio+, £18.95, which claims to soothe bloating, gas and discomfort.
Bardwell takes a food-first approach, advocating a fibre-rich diet to feed your microbiome. Some fibre-rich foods are less gassy than others. If peas make you parp or tomatoes make you trump, for example, Bardwell has a handy list of fibre-rich foods (below) that are less likely to create bloating, helping you hit your 30g of fibre a day without registering on the Richter scale.
Whether fart walking will become anything more than a solo activity remains to be seen. But if Marilyn Smith and her husband can make it a part of their joint daily routine, who knows where the wind will take this trend?
