How to Handle a Rumbling Stomach

October 28, 2025

2 min read

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What causes the stomach to rumble? Is it simply an unpleasant sound, or is it a disease symptom?

Key takeaways

What causes the stomach to rumble?
8 main reasons
Sound as a symptom

Who this is for

People exploring Gastrointestinal tract through stomach, nausea.

Why it matters

This piece helps you get oriented quickly, then move into a collection or series if you want to keep going.

Article author

Dr. Vera

Head of Therapy Department

8 main reasons

Hunger: You smell delicious food and immediately have a rumbling in your stomach. Your brain signals your stomach to produce the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin, which causes your intestines and stomach to contract. This is what causes the rumbling sounds.

Overeating: Food, liquid, and digestive juices mix with the air we breathe in. Together, they pass through the digestive tract, causing the rumbling sound. This most often occurs when we overeat.
Liquid after eating: Drinking too much makes it harder to produce gastric juice and impairs digestion.
Lack of fluids: Water saturates the body with moisture, cleanses it, and prevents unpleasant sounds in the stomach.
Eating foods that cause gas: Some foods are hard to digest and cause flatulence and rumbling. These include peas, lentils, white cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and foods with artificial sweeteners.
Stress: Nervous tension can cause issues with the stomach.
Eating fast food: Fatty and high-carbohydrate food negatively affects the work of the GI tract and provokes unpleasant sounds.
Consuming alcohol: The body can similarly react to alcoholic beverages, especially if you have GI problems.

If you suffer from food intolerances, avoid foods with triggering agents such as lactose, gluten, and histamine, as they can provoke stomach rumbling.

Sound as a symptom

Unpleasant sounds in the stomach caused by one of the listed reasons do not pose a special threat to health. However, rumbling in the stomach can be a symptom of a serious disease. If the sounds in the abdomen are stronger than usual and are accompanied by fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, bloody stools, heartburn, or sudden weight loss, you should immediately undergo an examination by a gastroenterologist.

What to do

Even if rumbling in the abdomen is not associated with a disease, it causes a lot of discomfort and can put you in an embarrassing situation. Lifestyle and dietary changes can help, including the following.

Eliminate foods that cause flatulence. Add more fiber to your menu such as greens, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
Eat small meals.
Chew your food thoroughly.
Do not allow long breaks between meals, and snack on fruit, dried fruit, cottage cheese, or nuts.
Drink more water – 1 oz. for every 0.5 lb of body weight.
Take probiotics, which will improve digestion and help with dysbiosis.
Do not drink anything immediately after eating.
Eat sweets no sooner than 1-2 hours after main meals.
Reduce caffeinated beverages to 1-2 cups a day.
Move more – it is especially helpful to take a walk after a meal.

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