source: http://38.media.tumblr.com/05f059389c428540595a74b66388032f/tumblr_inline_nh7x46U6I31suuq6s.jpg
In this wildly amusing article, gastroenterologists give you permission to fart in the closed cabin of an airplane. The logic? the phrase “Better out than In”. The first time I heard the phrase was on Shrek, in reference to letting out a fart (or burp). This got me mildly curious as to whether evidence supported this claim, and if there was a causal relationship or not between Letting a fart out, or what happens if you hold it in. According to the article, the effects of holding in a fart include bloating, stress, discomfort, and loss of concentration. The more I read into the article, the more I realized the main point was just “to let it out because turbulence could let it out anyways” Another focus of the article was on pilots, saying that the loss of concentration by trying to hold in a fart could impair the ability to fly the craft. The origin of the phrase is actually just a thing you say, because the sound logic just isn’t there. The principal is essentially that you should just let it out, rather than try and hold it in and cause discomfort. However, this doesn’t just apply to farting, it could also be useful in stress relief, anger, sorrow, or just about any emotion you go through.
This blog post was quite comical and I liked how you related farting, to pilots, to Shrek and then back to the idea that holding in farts could make you feel worse. Kind of disturbing, but extremely clever.
Wow, this article amazes me! I didn’t realize that by holding it in, you could actually make yourself feel worse. American society as a whole wants you to keep it in because it is impolite, however after doing some research, I have found that some other countries think otherwise. According to this article, some countries such as India, Turkey, and China have strange table manners, which include “letting it out”. I find it interesting who in different cultures, manners are extremely different. Who knew that letting out a burp during a meal would actually be considered polite?!