Take 100 Steps After Each Meal

This week, instead of settling in after dinner, or heading back to work after lunch, take a 10-minute walk.

“Fan hou bai bu zou, huo dao jiu shi jiu” (飯後百步走，活到九十九). Or, “if you take 100 steps after each meal, you’ll live to 99.”

Besides just moving more, taking a 10-minute walk after each meal helps regulate blood glucose, burns calories, and improves digestion.

You also get to be outside, which isn’t too shabby either.

“People have been discussing their profound experiences in nature for the last several 100 years — from Thoreau to John Muir to many other writers,” says researcher David Strayer, of the University of Utah. “Now we are seeing changes in the brain and changes in the body that suggest we are physically and mentally more healthy when we are interacting with nature.”

This week, instead of settling in after dinner, or heading back to work after lunch, take a 10-minute walk. Not only will you feel better, but you’ll be better.

“If you’ve been using your brain to multitask — as most of us do most of the day — and then you set that aside and go on a walk, without all of the gadgets, you’ve let the prefrontal cortex recover,” Strayer says. “And that’s when we see these bursts in creativity, problem-solving, and feelings of well-being.”