Skipping This Habit After Dinner Could Raise Your Heart Disease Risk, According to a Cardiologist
It's our daily habits and rituals that shape our health more than anything else. Your go-to breakfast, the coping mechanisms you use whenever you're stressed, whether you bike, walk or use your car to travel, how much sleep you get…It all matters. When it comes to heart health, diet and lifestyle habits especially play a big role. An estimated 80% of heart disease is preventable by having healthy diet and lifestyle habits in place. And there's one after-dinner habit that is so impactful that not doing it can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.
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One habit that can play a crucial role in heart disease prevention is going for an after-dinner walk.Dr. Yasmine S. Ali, MD,a preventive cardiologist, bestselling author, host of the Positive Vibes: On the Sunny Side podcast and an assistant clinical professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University, says something as simple as a daily walk truly can make a difference, in terms of preventing heart disease. 'I always take a walk after dinner with my dogs because the cardiovascular benefits are so strong,' she says. In fact, Dr. Ali says she takes a walk or does some sort of physical activity after every meal. 'It doesn't have to be a long walk. Just five to 10 minutes can help,' she explains.
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Dr. Ali reveals that walking after eating helps with blood sugar control, explaining, 'Research shows that even a five-minute walk after eating a meal has a measurable effect on moderating blood sugar levels, with the beneficial effect observed during a 60- to 90-minute window following the meal." What does this mean for your heart? Scientific research shows that keeping blood sugar levels stable prevents damage to blood vessels, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Walking—no matter what time of day it's done—is greatly beneficial for heart health. 'The evidence for walking's cardiovascular benefits is robust and consistent across multiple large-scale studies,' Dr. Ali says. She cites a landmark study called the Nurses' Health Study that showed that walking at a moderate pace for a collective three hours a week reduced the risk of heart disease by between 30% and 40%.
Additionally, Dr. Ali highlights a 2024 study that found that daily steps between 4,000 and 10,000 per day can lower the risk of heart disease, even for people who are sedentary most of the time, with researchers reporting that these number of steps lowered mortality risk by 39% and cardiovascular risk by 21%.Yet another study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicinefound that getting between 9,000 and 10,500 steps daily reduced mortality risk by 39% and the risk of adverse cardiovascular events by 21%.Related:
The benefits of walking regularly are clear. But just how much can you transform your health by adding this one ritual to your day? 'The transition from sedentary to walking 30 minutes daily represents one of the most impactful lifestyle changes possible for cardiovascular health,' Dr. Ali says. She points to scientific research showing that an increase of 1,000 steps a day is associated with a 15% reduction in the risk of dying from any cause and an increase of 500 steps a day is associated with a 7% reduction in dying from cardiovascular disease.
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She adds that studies on walking and health found that those who walked enough to meet physical activity guidelines had a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular events (like a heart attack or stroke) compared with those who did not walk regularly.
'Making it a habit of going on a walk after dinner can improve blood pressure,' Dr. Ali says, adding that it can also help lower cholesterol and help with joint and muscular pain or stiffness.
'All in all, walking is a terrific and easy form of physical activity, and can be done anywhere, with minimal injury risk as compared with other forms of exercise,' she explains. Don't underestimate the power of this simple habit.
Up Next: Dr. Yasmine S. Ali, MD, preventive cardiologist, bestselling author, host of the Positive Vibes: On the Sunny Side podcast and an assistant clinical professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University
Prevention. World Health Federation.
The Acute Effects of Interrupting Prolonged Sitting Time in Adults with Standing and Light-Intensity Walking on Biomarkers of Cardiometabolic Health in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Sports Medicine. 2022
Blood sugar regulation as a key focus for cardiovascular health promotion and prevention: an umbrella review.Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2019
A Prospective Study of Walking as Compared with Vigorous Exercise in the Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease in Women. The New England Journal of Medicine. 1999
Do the associations of daily steps with mortality and incident cardiovascular disease differ by sedentary time levels? A device-based cohort study. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2024
Systematic review of the prospective association of daily step counts with risk of mortality, cardiovascular disease, and dysglycemia. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2020
Skipping This Habit After Dinner Could Raise Your Heart Disease Risk, According to a Cardiologist first appeared on Parade on Jul 11, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
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