No, you didn't read that wrong
Listen, when you’re working in wellness you tend to come across a few wacky and weird health trends (vaginal steaming, period facials, the lot). But there’s nothing more interesting that when one comes along with more substance than ‘woo woo’, and is backed by actual professionals.
Introducing, fart walking.
Coming into the spotlight after Tiktoker Mairlyn Smith, known as @mairlynthequeenoffibre, posted it to her account only a few months ago,
“fart walks”
have become a bit of a cultural phenomenon. In the video Smith explains how she and her husband go on walks about 60 minutes after dinner and release their gas, which gives a bit of sense to the term. Countless TikTok and Instagram users and have now shared their own experiences of feeling better after taking up the #fartwalk habit.
Is there any evidence behind fart walking?
While its common knowledge that exercise can help relieve bloating by getting gas moving and out of our bodies, walking may have another bonus; it may trigger a nerve reflex that helps propel foods and gas contents through the gut. As per researchers from Barcelona, Spain in 2006 asked eight patients complaining of bloating, seven of whom had irritable bowel syndrome, to avoid
“gassy”
foods such as beans for two days and to fast for eight hours before their study. Each patient was asked to sit in an armchair, in order to avoid any effects of body position on the movement of gas. Gas was pumped directly into their small bowel via a thin plastic tube that went down their mouth, and the gas expelled from the body was collected into a bag via a tube placed in the rectum. This way, the researchers could determine how much gas was retained in the gut.
The patients were then asked to pedal on a modified exercise bike while remaining seated in their armchairs. The researchers found that much less gas was retained in the patients’ gut when they exercised. They determined exercise probably helped the movement and release of intestinal gas. When it came to walking, it was even more successful at expelling gas. The increase in internal abdominal pressure, as a result of using your abdominal muscles to stay upright and balance as you walk, helped to push intestinal gas out.
So, is there a way to fart walk?
Another study from Iran studied the effects of walking in 94 individuals with bloating by asking participants to carry out ten to 15 minutes of slow walking (about 1,000 steps) after eating lunch and dinner. The researchers found walking after meals resulted in improvements to gut symptoms such as belching, farting, bloating and abdominal discomfort. Now for the crucial part: in the Iranian study, there was a particular way in which participants were advised to walk. They were asked to clasp hands together behind their back and to flex their neck forward.
The clasped hands posture leads to more internal abdominal pressure and therefore more gentle squeezing out of gas from the colon. The flexed neck posture decreases the swallowing of air during walking. Please formally meet the proper fart walk technique, based on science. Whether you’ll be doing that around the neighbourhood, though, is up to you.
Does it help with constipation?
Short answer: yes.
Researchers who studied middle aged inactive patients with chronic constipation, found that brisk walking at least 30 minutes a day – combined with 11 minutes of strength and flexibility exercises – improved constipation symptoms through reduced straining, less hard stools and more complete evacuation. But the benefits don’t stop there: In patients with irritable bowel syndrome, one study increasing the daily step count to 9,500 steps from 4,000 steps led to a 50% reduction in the severity of their symptoms. And just 30 minutes of a fart walk has been shown to improve blood sugar levels after eating.
Walk and fart away, friends.
Adapted from: WHA
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