02-06-2010 - Health

When your stomach growls, it’s a sign that your brain is sending a message to your digestive organs to prepare them for a meal.

These signals not only step up the intensity and frequency of contractions by the stomach and intestines – they also stimulate them to secrete digestive juices. There’s usually also some gas in your stomach and intestines. The noises come about when that mixture of gas and fluid squirt through a small opening, such as the one that separates the stomach and small intestine.

The medical term for these bowel sounds is “borborygmi.”

Noisy borborygmi isn’t always caused by hunger, though. If the gurgles and growls are really loud, it suggests that there’s a lot of extra gas in the intestines, which might be caused by the nervous swallowing of air, an ulcer, or the inability to absorb certain foods, often lactose in milk. But, in most cases, the sounds in your stomach and intestines are perfectly normal.

If you want to tone them down, try lying on your back or applying pressure to your abdomen – or just eat something!

Written by EarthSky