Sometimes, when your stomach rumbles so everyone within a mile can hear it or you accidentally fart in front of your crush, you have to wonder why, oh WHY, your body has betrayed you in such a colossal way? Well, as it turns out, there's actually a legit, scientific reason for all the
noises your body makes.
Check them out. Maybe they'll make you feel better in the moment.
1. Farting: Farts are a natural result of your body digesting food. When you eat, you swallow air along with your food.
Also, while your digestive system converts your food into nutrients, it produces a gas called hydrogen sulfide (the smelly kind of gas). Your body has to get rid of all that gas — hence, farting.
2. Belching: Burping is another way for your body to get rid of all that air you swallow. Basically, the air you've swallowed travels back up and is expelled through your mouth. It's basically farting... from the other end.
3. Stomach Growling: In order for your body to propel food through your digestive system, the muscles in your stomach and intestines are constantly contracting to push your food downward in a process called peristalsis. The rumbling sound you hear in your stomach is all the gas, liquid, and broken down food being sloshed around by this process.
You might be surprised to know your stomach is actually rumbling all day. So why do you notice it most when you're hungry? About two hours after your stomach empties itself, it produces hormones that sends a message to your brain to signal your digestive muscles to start the peristalsis process again, which makes you feel hungry. The reason you can hear the rumbling more when your intestines are empty is because there's no food there to muffle the sound.
4. Joints Cracking: The pop that emits from your joints when you stretch. It's a wildly satisfying feeling for the person who's cracking their knuckles or back, but makes everyone in their vicinity cringe. There's a liquid called synovial fluid that acts as lubricant between your joints and the fluid has all types of gas in it, like oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide.
When you crack a joint, you stretch the joint capsule and the gas in the synovial fluid is rapidly released. The pop you hear is that gas being released. That's why, when you try to crack your knuckles again shortly after you cracked them before, it doesn't pop. It's because the gas hasn't hasn't had time to return to the synovial fluid yet.
5. Sneezing: Sneezing is caused by the irritation to the mucus membranes of the nose or throat. When an irritant enters your nose, it sets off the 'sneeze centre' in your brain. Signals are sent to tightly close your throat, eyes, and mouth. Then your chest muscles contract, before your throat muscles rapidly relax. As result of this process, air, saliva and mucus are forced out of your mouth and nose (hopefully along with the thing that originally irritated your nose).
6. Hiccups: Hiccups are caused when you diaphragm(the dome-shaped muscle at the bottom of your chest) becomes irritated. Usually, when you inhale, your diaphragm pulls down to help pull air into your lungs. Then it relaxes as you exhale, letting air flow back out. When the diaphragm becomes irritated (by things like eating too much, or simply feeling nervous), it can start pulling down in a jerky, unpredictable way, which makes you suck air into your throat suddenly. The air rushing in hits your voice box, causing your vocal cords to close suddenly. That's what produces that hic sound.