Generations of parents have told their children not to eat before they go swimming. But: should you?
Summer holidays spent splashing in the sea are a treasured memory of
childhood. But nothing ever softened the blow of being told by your mum
that you had to wait an hour after eating before you could swim. “But
why?” you would wail in protest. “Because if you don’t wait until your
food is properly digested you could get cramp and drown!” she would
threaten, shooting you a look designed to strike fear into the most
adventurous of hearts. Thereafter followed the longest sixty minutes of
your life, until finally she deemed it safe for you to dive back in.
It was a rule of childhood that no adult ever disagreed with. Only
when you were much older might you think to question the truth of this
universal wisdom: Where were the stories of people who went back into
the water too soon after eating a meal and then drowned? Such accounts
seem suspiciously lacking.
There’s no doubt that swimming on a full stomach can feel pretty
uncomfortable. And it’s true that blood is diverted away from your
muscles towards your stomach to help the process of digestion. Because
of this, there’s a common concern that not enough blood is left in your
legs and arms, which might cause muscle cramps or even paralysis.
Thankfully though, these fears appear to be entirely unfounded, as
experts confirm that sufficient blood remains in your limbs during
digestion to keep them working just fine. While the causes of leg cramps
still aren’t fully understand, having a full stomach doesn’t seem to be
a contributory factor. And there are certainly no recorded incidences
of someone drowning as a direct result of having eaten food prior to
swimming.
The most likely outcome of a postprandial dip is that it’ll make you
feel a bit sick, because blood that should be helping you digest is
being used by your muscles instead. Food will sit heavy in your stomach
and any major exertion, such as diving, could potentially bring on
vomiting. But as long as you keep your swimming to a moderate pace you
should be just fine. Some competitive swimmers even prefer to eat a
light meal before an endurance swim, to give them the energy they need
to keep going.
That said, there is some evidence
to suggest that consuming large amounts of food or sugary drinks before
exercise might make you more likely to get a ‘stitch’ in your side.
Also known as exercise-related transient abdominal pains (or ETAPs),
these sharp, stabbing pains are caused by an irritation of the membrane
that lines your abdominal cavity. Exactly how it becomes irritated is
not fully understood, but one theory
is that a reduction in the blood supply to the diaphragm makes it
spasm. Another theory is that the gut becomes bloated and pulls down on
the ligaments connecting it to the diaphragm, causing sharp pains.
Though sometimes stitches can occur when you haven’t eaten or drank
anything at all, so they remain a bit of scientific mystery.
The good news is that if you do happen to get a stitch or muscle
cramp whilst swimming, statistics say that it’s very unlikely you’ll
drown as a result. The natural tendency of a human body is to float in
water, so you can just let yourself float until it passes. Cramps and
stitches usually disappear on their own quite quickly, so you won’t be
out of action for long. And most swimmers find their survival instinct
kicks in and they’re able to get themselves to safety, even during a
cramp.
However, there’s always a risk that younger, less experienced
swimmers might panic, so you should keep a close eye on them and don’t
let them swim out of their depth.
Of course, parents may well have their own reasons for keeping the
one-hour myth alive. After all, it has the benefit of providing an extra
hour’s peace and quiet before supervising the little darlings on their
next watery adventure.
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