|
We were a little disappointed when a search on "tummy noises" turned up little more than baby talk and advice for sick pets, so we tried a search on "stomach noises" instead. Pleasantly surprised by the results, we chose the first link, a post from the archives of the MAD Scientist Network titled "Why does my stomach growl?." Our guts (stomach and intestines) consist of a hollow tube lined with muscle. The ongoing contractions of this muscle causes waves of activity known as migrating myoelectric complexes. Basically, these contractions keep food moving through the digestive system as it is broken
down, absorbed, and eliminated. When bubbles of air are trapped along the way they produce vibrations, and it's these vibrations that we hear as growling or gurgling sounds. There's even a medical term for the distinctive stomach sounds caused by the utterly normal movement of fluids and gas -- borborygmus. We learned this new word from another search result that pointed to those helpful MAD Scientists. In our quest for more information, we decided to visit Yahooligans!, Yahoo!'s directory of sites for kids, where we browsed around an anatomy subcategory all about our digestive
system. If you're easily grossed out, don't watch Brainpop's animated movie of the digestive process; it's educational, but it may induce extra gurgling. On the other hand, if you are intrigued by the nitty-gritty of human anatomy, be sure to visit Your Gross & Cool Body. Select gurgling stomach from the drop-down menu of bodily functions, and prepare to listen and learn as much as you can stomach about digestion.
|
