Growing up, my mom constantly badgered me with rules that seem a bit ridiculous looking back on them. Orange juice will cure your cold, never turn a light on in a car at night, if you swallow your gum it’ll stay in your stomach for seven years and the dreaded wait 30 minutes after eating before you swim. These rules were so driven into my head that I give the same rules to the kids I babysit. But do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating to swim? I finally decided to take to the internet and learned that it’s all a myth. Yeah, my trust is broken, too.
The Belief
The reason for this well known rule is that people believed that the blood going to your digestive tract after a big meal steals blood away from the rest of your body. The fear is that arm and leg muscles would cramp up and stop working from lack of blood. Everyone literally thought if you ignored the rule you’d seize up and just straight up drown from blood loss. Sorry lifeguards, your job gets much harder after lunchtime. So if you wait 30 minutes after eating to swim, all things are solved? What about 25 minutes?
The Facts
What the moms of the past didn’t know is that you have more than enough blood to digest and swim at the same time. The fact is that an episode of drowning caused by a full stomach has just never been documented. So I guess some helicopter mom just invented the whole thing. The truth is, a full stomach and any body cramps while swimming are unrelated. You can still get cramps while swimming, but you don’t have to blame it on the big mac you had for lunch.
I don’t know about you but I am pretty upset thinking about all the hours of my life I wasted sitting next to the pool waiting out my 30 minutes. I immediately forwarded these sources to my mom and can’t wait to hear her response. Eating poolside is totally OK. Now that you don’t have to wait 30 minutes after eating to swim, you have no reason to pass on that poolside popsicle. What crazy rules will I have for my kids when I’m older? Sorry in advance.