A chat with my dad made me doubt the whole 'wait an hour after eating to swim' rule

We were at the lake last weekend and I stopped my nephew from going in the water right after lunch... you know, the old rule. My dad, who's 72, just laughed and said 'We never waited a minute back in the 60s, and no one drowned from a cramp.' He said it was just something parents said to get kids to sit still and digest so they wouldn't get sick in the pool. I looked it up later and the Red Cross basically says mild activity is fine, just don't go do a hard swim right after a huge meal. It hit different because he was there, living through the era when that myth took hold. Has anyone else had a family member completely debunk one of those childhood safety things you always believed?

3 comments

3 Comments

michael_burns17d ago

Your dad saying "no one drowned from a cramp" is a huge survivor bias. People absolutely have gotten into trouble from swimming on a full stomach, it just wasn't always recorded that way. The old rule exists for a reason, even if it's a bit too strict.

joseph_adams6617d ago

Remember the one about not swallowing gum because it stays in your stomach for seven years? My older cousin, a nurse, finally told me that was just to stop us from sticking it under tables. She said our bodies just pass it, like anything else.

tessa_clark745d ago

Michael_burns has a point about survivor bias, but the real issue is how we apply old rules now. We have better medical understanding of cramps and digestion today. The rule should be about using common sense based on how much you ate and how hard you're swimming, not a strict time limit.