Fact or Fiction? The ENGL 137H & 138T Blogging Experience

When I was younger, swimming in the ocean was one of my favorite things to do during a trip to the shore.  I’d spend all day in the water, only coming out for one of two reasons: my mom was making me reapply sunscreen, or my stomach was growling.  When it was the latter, I ate whatever version of a sandwich my mom packed that day (typically in under 5 minutes) and rushed back into the water – never concerned about that “wait an hour after you eat to swim” rule to avoid cramping or something like that.  My mom never really drilled that one into my head, so I always thought it was a silly saying.

After doing some research on the internet, I still think it’s just a silly saying.  This article from the Discovery Channel suggests that this old wives tale originated out of the belief that once you eat, “most of the available blood in one’s body would flood to the stomach to help with digestion,” so when you try to swim immediately following a meal, your limbs would start to cramp and you would “sink like a frozen ravioli in a pot of water.”  Fortunately, this is not the case.  It is true that there is a higher demand for blood in the stomach region after eating a big meal – but our bodies are equipped with enough blood to “keep our other parts running just fine,” even during digestion.

Granted, if you’re going to eat a huge meal before swimming hundreds of laps in the pool, you stomach probably won’t be all too comfortable – especially if that meal is high in fat and protein, which is not as easily digested as simple carbohydrates.  But, that’s a case that occurs only if you’re swimming hundreds of laps immediately after eating (and let’s face it, that’s not a reality for many of us).  If you’re at a barbeque, or the shore, and you take a quick break from hanging out in the water to eat, you most likely will not face any repercussions by hopping back in once you’ve finished.

Tags: #fiction, #passion, #rcl1213, king

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 9th, 2013 at 10:43 pm and is filed under Passion. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.