Thursday, February 18, 2010

There is little doubt that everyone at some point in their life have heard someone tell them to wait an hour after they eat before swimming to avoid getting cramps causing you to sink and drown. Often as kids we are led to believe that if we set foot in water after the smallest meal that we will be struck with these infamous life-threatening cramps. It is sometimes when dealing with children it is perfectly acceptable to over-exaggerate dangers. According to snopes.com, this possible over-exaggeration is 100% false.

Though it is possible to get muscle cramps while swimming, these are in no way life threatening. If a swimmer ever was to get a cramp, the best thing they could do is merely float and let the cramp run its course. Cramps while swimming are caused by working your muscles and have absolutely nothing to do with the length of time between swimming and eating. There has never been one drowning ever recorded that can be attributed to a cramp caused by the amount of time between eating and swimming. This old wives' tail can go down as yet another myth with absolutely no scientific backing.

No comments:

Post a Comment