Why Do Stomachs Growl?

Stomachs growl because of the physiological processes involved in digesting food and pushing it through the intestinal tract. The stomach is an incredibly muscular organ that frequently contracts itself to help circulate digestive juices. This is just one way the human body demonstrates its sensitive nutritional needs, and lets us know if it's being neglected. When the stomach is empty, these juices slosh around with the gases generated during the process of digestion, generating a distinctive growling noise; the noise is also caused by the walls of the stomach coming into contact with each other. So before you worry about that rumbling noise after playing sports, working out, or getting caught in a long meeting, know that this phenomenon is not as unusual as you think.

The issue of growling stomachs was of such interest to the Greeks that they developed a word to describe it: borborygmi, which means “growlings.” Individuals may occasionally hear medical professionals talking about borborygmi as a more polite term for growling stomachs. As a general rule, these sounds are not a cause for concern, because it is simply part of the natural digestive process. In fact, it's very helpful especially in kids, since they can get too excited or distracted by play they forget to ask for food despite being hungry. However, if the growling occurs too often despite having had a meal, a consult with a pediatric nutritionist or physician should be prioritized. The stomach never fully ceases its digestive work; in fact, digestive juices continue to work even after death. While you're alive though the most common causes of stomach growling will primarily be hunger due to being active or skipping meals.

Intestines also growl, although people may not hear it because the soft tissue of the body muffles the sound from the outside. Growling in the intestines is also caused by digestive processes, as the body slowly pushes food and waste material to its eventual end destination. If a person puts his or her head close enough to the stomach of another person or animal, it's often pretty easy to hear the growling.

Often, stomachs growl when people are hungry, because their stomachs are empty. A growling stomach does not always mean that someone is hungry, however — it just means that the stomach is empty or relatively empty. It also isn't an indicator of a healthy diet, as people who eat a lot of unhealthy food and those who are mindful of their meals will both experience the famous stomach growl at several points in their lives. For example, the stomach can growl in the middle of the night as it processes the food a person ate during the day, but people don't realize this because they are asleep.

There are some situations in which growling is a sign of a health problem. People with irritable bowel disease, for example, often experience noisy stomachs along with a host of unpleasant symptoms, including cramps. If the stomach growls a lot, or a person experiences extreme cramping or other gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea, he or she may want to see a medical professional to make sure that everything is well with the digestive system.

It can help for people to think of the stomach as a carton of juice; if someone shakes a full carton of juice, he will hear minimal sounds, whereas a carton that is almost empty will be quite noisy.