Picture it: you’re 10 years old, you’ve just absolutely smashed the hotel breakfast buffet, and now you’re ready for a day of larking about in the pool. But wait – your parents say you have to wait before you can go swimming (boooo). Why? None of their answers seem very believable and it turns out there’s a good reason for that.
It’s because the idea simply isn’t backed up by science. There might be the odd anecdotal tale involving the mysterious death of a child who just so happens to be the same age as you, but scientific literature on the matter is pretty lacking and that which does exist doesn’t support the idea that swimming directly after eating poses any big danger.
So where on Earth did the myth come from?
“The old feeling was that, after you eat, some of the blood may be diverted to your gut so that you can digest, diverting the bloodstream away from your arms and legs,” emergency medicine physician Dr Michael Boniface told Mayo Clinic Minute. “And you may get tired or fatigued, and be more likely to drown.”
Although how old this “old feeling” is isn’t exactly clear, some of the earliest evidence of it can be found in the 1908 handbook Scouting for Boys.
“First, there is the danger of cramp. If you bathe within an hour and a half after taking a meal, that is, before your food is digested, you are very likely to get cramp. Cramp doubles you up in extreme pain so that you cannot move your arms or legs – and down you go,” it reads. “You may drown – and it will be your own fault.”
Savage words for a book aimed at children, but also incorrect.
In 2011, the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council investigated the existing scientific literature on swimming after eating and found, in both recreational and competitive swimming, “no incidence of fatal or non-fatal drowning.”
“There is currently no evidence to support any link between eating before swimming and drowning. The persistence of this myth is not actively harmful, but it is nonetheless a myth,” the council concluded.
That doesn’t mean you might not get tummy troubles if you chow down on a heavy meal before hitting the pool – a wave machine plus a full stomach doesn’t strike us as a pleasant combination – but it’s extremely unlikely to result in your death by drowning.
Now go forth and make up for all that time lost waiting.
All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text, images, and links may be edited, removed, or added to at a later date to keep information current.
Source Link: Should You Wait To Go Swimming After Eating?