Eating before swimming causes cramps - an old scout myth?

[RememberSchiff]

http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local/verify/verify-is-swimming-and-snacking-bad-for-you/454715281

 

Swimming and snacking was something most parents shunned when we were kids.

 

The thought was that one would receive horrible cramps if they went swimming right after a feast.

We traced the origins of the cramps story to a 1911 Boy Scouts handbook.

 

"Many boys make the mistake of going into the water too soon after eating," the handbook said.

 

The literature from over a century ago stated that paralyzing cramps would result from that practice.

 

Was that a fair diagnosis? First Coast News sought out some help in verifying this claim.

 

It turns out Duke University has a clear and extensive fact sheet on swimming and eating.

 

The guide stated extra blood does rush to your digestive system when you eat, but not enough to give you cramps. Your arms and legs will still work just fine.

 

A big sorry goes out to the Boys Scouts, as the 106-year-old theory is false.

 

I was somewhat surprised the BSA is being considered the source but maybe we are?

 

As a youth, Red Cross swimming  and lifesaving taught this.  In the manual below, there was a dramatic black and white photo of a swimmer sinking with stomach cramps.  We didn't believe that swimming or any exercise after a meal caused cramps. We felt a bad meal could cause cramps and you didn't want to be in the water if that happened.  So we waited after meals before swimming, still do.

 

 

[NJCubScouter]

Well, my mother taught me that you shouldn't go swimming within an hour after eating.  I never questioned it and told my kids the same thing.

 

I suspect it probably goes back long before 1911, but I have no evidence to prove it.

[Stosh]

I did the same thing.  I wonder how many other "old wive's tale" myths are out there like that  that we just keep passing along to the next generation to uselessly worry about.

[qwazse]

I learned it from the ARC, in grade school I suppose.

Later instructors taught me that acclimation to water temperature and stretching were overriding factors.

 

Of course, the county pool had a grill and vending machines, so we figured it not a big deal. That, or was worth it to them to have cramped up kids for the sake of making some coin.

 

I figure it was a ploy to minimize having to evacuate the pool due to unwanted "deposits".

[NJCubScouter]

I did the same thing.  I wonder how many other "old wive's tale" myths are out there like that  that we just keep passing along to the next generation to uselessly worry about.

 

"BSA regulations prohibit sheath knives."    

[Col. Flagg]

Perhaps this advice was put in there by the pool management lobby. I mean, who wants to clean out the filtration systems if someone's lunch comes back up? 

[T2Eagle]

I knew as a kid it wasn't true but it was enforced anyway, at least as long as we were pre-teens. I always figured it was a way for adults to ensure themselves time after a meal to relax and socialize around the table before they had to act as lifeguards.

 

I'm dubious of it as a Boy Scout founded myth, that's just an easy data point for someone to find

Edited July 7, 2017 by T2Eagle

[perdidochas]

Well, my mother taught me that you shouldn't go swimming within an hour after eating.  I never questioned it and told my kids the same thing.

 

I suspect it probably goes back long before 1911, but I have no evidence to prove it.

 I learned that, too, but broke it often enought that I realized it wasn't true. My kids have only heard about it in joking.  I do realize why it was a popular  myth. As an adult, it's nice to take a little while after eating.  

[SSScout]

In my physiology class, right after the candle wick trimming workshop,  I remember being taught that the human body had three main functions:  thinking, muscle use and digestion.   They said that the circulatory system usually had enough blood and exerted it's effort in supporting any two of those functions, the third would be , shall we say, toned down, put on a back burner, not be at high efficiency.

Therefore, after a big meal, your thinking may be slow(er), your running/swimming/log splitting might not be at their best.   Therefore, do not engage in life supporting events (mile swim? Scuba? Free Rock climbing? )  or heavy thinking (debate team?  Presidential elections? Wifely discussions?)  right after fried chicken picnics.

Coffee, tea, a donut might not be as handicapping. But mama's pot roast, dumplings and celery sage gravy, stay on the deck for awhile before demonstrating that Olympic Butterfly.

 

Not so much "cramps" as  "lack of ability"....

[RememberSchiff]

I am searching for earlier (non-Scout) safety instructions regarding eating before swimming. So far the source still remains us.

 

1908 Scouting for Boys

"First, there is the danger of cramp. If you bathe within an hour and a half after taking a meal, that is, before your food is digested, you are very likely to get cramp. Cramp doubles you up in extreme pain so that you cannot move your arms or legs — and down you go. You may drown — and it will be your own fault."

 

1911 Boy Scout Handbook

"Many boy swimmers make the mistake of going into the water too soon after eating. The stomach and digestive organs are busy preparing the food for the blood and body. Suddenly they are called upon to care for the work of the swimmer. The change is too quick for the organs, the process of digestion stops, congestion is apt to follow, and then paralyzing cramps."

[RememberSchiff]

Found this. though I found no mention of eating and swimming. The Swimmers' Life Saving Society, later called  Royal Life Saving Society, founded in 1891 in London influenced Scout swimming program.

A Social History of Swimming in England, 1800 – 1918: Splashing in the Serpentine

page 115: Swimming: Service to the Empire and Baden Powell's Youth Movements

 

The Royal Life Saving Society Handbook of Instruction published in 1936.

"The most suitable time to bathe is about two hours after a meal, when food taken previously will have become partially digested," it advises. "On no account bathe shortly after a hearty meal, when exhausted from vigorous exercise, when the body is cooling after perspiring nor, on the other hand, when shivering ..."

Edited July 7, 2017 by RememberSchiff

[NJCubScouter]

 I learned that, too, but broke it often enought that I realized it wasn't true. 

 

Well, what can I say? Apparently I bought it hook, line and sinker.  And I was one of those kids in high school wearing a "Question Authority" button.  Go figure.

[blw2]

yeah, I always knew that whole thing was horsehockey even when I was a kid too.  I don't cramp up when i eat and then head out to the playground to run around..... and I don't cramp up when I eat and jump into a pool for some floating or even moderate activity.

but when you don't take things so literally there some sound logic buried in there...

for general good practice, it makes sense to me that I wouldn't really want to go for a run right after eating....or do anything overly vigorous.  Better for digestion probably to rest a bit after eating.... and better performance for the exercise too, to do it on an emty-ish stomach......so it kinda makes sense that you don't see Olympic swimmers chowing down a big-mac right before the finals race....