Next to “ do n’t fill up on bread , ” one of the most permeative grownup admonishments to children is the warning not to direct for a swim 30 to 60 minutes after eating . The item are vague , but some think it involves catch stomach cramp iron because lineage is being pumped to your arm and wooden leg , not your gut , or the opposite — that the body is diverting profligate for digestion away from your arms or wooden leg , which will prompt you to fall off in the pool .
But is it true ? Do you really need to sit around for up to an hour after devour a hot dog before swim ?
allot toDuke Health , the theory does n’t carry water . While eating does deviate blood to your enteral tract , it ’s not enough to break up the subprogram of your appendages . natator may have a minor spasm , but nothing that would endanger them .
The validation ? At no item has any drowning death been attribute to swimming too shortly after eat . Some endurance swimmer evenconsumefood for energy mid - swim .
There is one thing you could drink before drown that can raise your drowning risk , and that ’s intoxicant . Accordingto the CDC , alcohol can play a part in up to 70 per centum of water recreation - connect deaths . Other case include not being able-bodied to drown , deficiency of security fencing around pools , and not using life story jackets .
It ’s possible this myth originate from a 1908 Boy Scouts handbook , whichcautionsthat swimmers should wait after eating before take the plunge . Thebeliefwas that digestion and exertion would somehow be in competition with one another for line of descent and oxygen , causing the soundbox to halter . Like a lot of well - intentioned medical advice atthe turn of the century , it does n’t stand up to scrutiny .
[ h / tDuke Health ]
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