Stomach Gurgle
The Truth About Stomach Gurgle
What does this incredibly loud stomach gurgle sound mean? Those that are young and old frequently ponder this question. Some may call this sound gurgling while others may say their stomach is growling or rolling. Despite whatever terms are used to explain the sound coming from your stomach, they all lead to the question of “what is causing this sound?” Therefore, we find it necessary to answer this age-old question by examining your digestive system. Throughout this article we will delve into the topic of stomach gurgle while explaining in detail the cause for these strange sounds coming from your abdominal region.
Believe it or not, your stomach gurgle has its own name, borborygmus. Furthermore, the term actually dates back to the Ancient Greeks making it age-old indeed. This word was designed to sound like the noise that is elicited by your abdominal region during the digestive process. Yes, this means that the stomach gurgle you are experiencing is likely to be very normal and a part of your body’s natural processes, specifically during periods of digestion.
Now that we realize this stomach gurgle is very common and normal, let’s examine the reasons for these sounds. Typically when your stomach makes the growling noise it is merely because of your stomach preparing to eat. When you feel hungry you may often hear these sounds; however, it is not your body telling you it is time to eat as much as it is your body preparing for the feeding that it assumes is coming. Therefore, it retracts muscles to move partially digested food on through the digestive process to make room for the new food that is arriving. When this occurs, air pockets build up within this area. As this happens, gas and other materials moving around the abdomen will be squeezed around causing the sound you hear and refer to as stomach gurgle. In simple terms, it is merely your stomach muscles contracting and making room for more food as it pushes partially digested food through the process.
These muscles will contract throughout the day but the grumbling sound tends to only appear after humans (as well as animals) have went several hours without eating. Therefore, many people associate these rumbling sounds with being hungry. They think, “I have not eaten for a while and my stomach is making noise so I must be hungry.” However, many ask why they have grumbling sounds regardless of if they are hungry or not. The answer is simple. As explained above, throughout the day you will have a rush of digestive juices that are attempting to clean out your abdominal area. Sometimes the movement of those gases and the food inside your stomach and intestines will create these sounds. Again, this is completely normal and is simply your body completing the digestive process and moving things along. One very interesting fact is that your body tends to make around two gallons of this digestive juice just within a single day. Put in comparison, you only have two gallons of blood found throughout your body as a whole! Therefore, it is easy to see how stomach gurgle can occur randomly throughout the day with that much digestive juice being sloshed around for cleansing.
In conclusion, the stomach gurgle you experience is completely normal and is merely your digestive system going through its daily processes. Although the sound is more common when you have not eaten in a while, the body goes through the process of cleaning out your stomach and intestines multiple times throughout the day. All in all, your stomach is only telling you that it is doing its job unless these sounds are accompanied by pain, at which time you should seek medical assistance.