Stomach gurgling causes, symptoms, and home remedies

Stomach gurgling is a sound that can spring up at any moment – sometimes causing embarrassment. Stomach gurgling is often associated with digestion, but sometimes they could indicate something more serious. It’s important to recognize when your stomach gurgles and how often to help you narrow in on the possible cause.

Here we will outline the many different causes of stomach gurgles along with some home remedies you can try to minimize stomach gurgling.

Causes of Stomach Gurgling

Hunger: Sometimes, stomach gurgles are your body’s way of telling you it’s time to eat. These stomach gurgles can be louder if you don’t consume food but fill yourself with coffee or alcohol. When your stomach speaks, it’s important that you listen.

Intestinal disorders: Conditions like irritable bowel syndrome could cause stomach gurgling. You may also experience accompanying symptoms like abdominal pain.

Lack of sleep: When you don’t sleep, your body becomes stressed, which can trigger overeating and an increase in stomach gurgling.

Nervousness: When we’re anxious or nervous, we experience what is known as “butterflies in the stomach.” Well, those “butterflies” can also cause your stomach to get noisier, contributing to gurgling.

Food intolerance: When a person is intolerant to a certain food – for example, dairy – your stomach becomes more distressed, which triggers gurgling. You may also notice the accompanying gas or pain when you consume a food that your body can’t process.

Sedentary lifestyle: Regular exercise and activity boosts digestion, and lack of exercise can cause a sluggish digestion and slower intestinal motility, which can result in constipation.

Carbonated drinks and fast food: Carbonated beverages and fast food combined can increase stomach distress along with gas and acid production. The high-fat food coupled with carbonated beverages leads to indigestion, heartburn, and stomach gurgling after eating.

Eating too fast: If you’ve ever scarfed down food, you may find you experience more stomach gurgling after the meal. When you eat food too quickly, you don’t chew it properly. As a result, your food enters the stomach in larger pieces, leading to stomach distress. Remember to always chew your food properly for easier digestion.

GERD: In acid reflux, or GERD, acid washes up through the esophagus. Symptoms of GERD include heartburn, chest pain, and rumbling. If not well managed, it can lead to esophageal cancer.

Overactivity in the gut: Common causes of overactivity in the gut include food poisoning, gastroenteritis, anxiety, medications, and alcohol. These factors can stimulate the gut, producing loud gurgling sounds.

Blockages in the gut: Gurgling sounds can indicate a blockage in the gut that doesn’t allow for food and waste to pass through. The narrower the passageway, the louder the sounds.

Excessive gas and fluid: Digestion of certain foods, swallowing air, and bacteria overgrowth often produces gas. Along with stomach gurgling, you may also experience flatulence and belching.

Symptoms Associated with Gurgling Stomach

The symptoms a person experiences depends on the cause of stomach gurgles. For starters, a person will hear a characteristic noise from the stomach, which can resemble a deflating balloon or air being moved around.

Some gastrointestinal symptoms that can follow stomach gurgling are nausea, a decrease in appetite, vomiting, disturbed sleep, headaches, bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, and belching.

Stomach gurgling may have a serious cause when it becomes chronic, when you begin to pass blood, when you lose weight, or if your bowel habits have altered for at least five weeks. If you experience any of these symptoms, you should seek out medical attention.

Home Remedies for Stomach Gurgling

Uncovering the exact cause of your stomach gurgling noises is the best means to help treat it, but if you don’t know what’s causing it, here are some home remedies to ease the noises.

• Ensure you are drinking plenty of water – Water helps aid in digestion along with being a stomach filler. Consuming it with a meal will make you feel fuller, quicker. A full stomach does not make a gurgling sound. Continuously sipping water throughout the day can ease stomach gurgling.
• Change your diet, avoid fast food and carbonated beverages, avoid foods you may be intolerant to, and ensure you are eating regularly.
• Have smaller, more frequent meals – this works by the same principle of consuming water. It ensures your stomach is full, but not too full where it needs to struggle through digestion which can lead to stomach gurgling.
• Chew your food properly, avoid swallowing excess air – try to chew with your mouth closed to prevent access air from entering the stomach. Avoid large mouthfuls because they are more difficult to digest, which can result in a louder stomach gurgle
• Try drinking herbal tea after the meal
• Manage stress
• Stop smoking
• Incorporate more protein throughout your day so that you don’t crave gassier foods
• Avoid sugars and artificial sugars which can promote gas and bloating
• Avoid dairy if you’re lactose intolerant

By following these tips, you can prevent and even treat stomach gurgling at home.

Related:

• Stomach spasms (abdominal muscle spasm): Causes and symptoms
• Natural Laxatives to Relieve Constipation