# Stomache Growling?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stomache-growling/186832>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 7, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stomache-growling/186832 "2003-07-07T18:33:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gyt\_fx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@gyt\_fx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gyt_fx)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stomache-growling/186832/1 "2003-07-07T18:33:36Z")

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What exactly is stomache growling?

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stomache-growling/186832/2 "2003-07-07T21:52:16Z")

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First things first.

Your stomach is not down behind your belly. It is much higher up in your chest, probably closer to where you think your heart is.

So when you get rumblings in your belly, your stomach has nothing to do with it. What’s behind that big gut of yours (or that washboard flatness) are your intestines.

And when air or water moves through your intestines, it can cause a rumbling noise that is called borborygmi.

But gas and water move through my bowels all the time, you say, and they don’t make this noise.

This is correct. Here’s the [explanation](http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/feb98/884727122.An.r.html):

> [@](#):
>
> The reason we experience borborygmi when we are hungry is that our bodies respond to the desire for food by a reflex (like a doctor hitting your knee with a hammer) which prepares the stomach for food by moving the stuff in the intestines out of the way, i.e. down to the rectum. This increased activity in the intestines causes small pockets of water and gas to be squeezed through the intestines, making bubbling and gurgling noises as it goes. Some people experience borborygmus after meals, since the same reflex is for digestion.

The best site about borborygmi is [this one](http://www.qfever.com/20000726/borborygmi.html). 🙂

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**Author:** ![gyt\_fx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@gyt\_fx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gyt_fx)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stomache-growling/186832/3 "2003-07-09T16:45:22Z")

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that explains it fully  
thank you

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**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stomache-growling/186832/4 "2003-07-09T17:02:30Z")

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Well, actually, borborygmi occurs in the intestines _and_ stomach. Per [here.](http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=00092256-9922-1CE2-93F6809EC5880000) They also give the reasons why you only hear your stomach when it is empty and therefore hungry.