Why is my stomach gurgling? What makes gut sounds, what is normal, and when to see a doctor

Quick answer

What makes your stomach gurgle?

Muscles moving food, fluid and gas. The walls of the stomach and intestines contract in waves, called peristalsis, that push food and liquid through and mix them, NIDDK explains. Harvard Health says the rumbling, called borborygmi, is thought to come from gas moved around by those contractions, though its exact source is uncertain. Henry Ford gastroenterologist Eva Alsheik, MD, says the squeezing runs through 30 feet of small and large intestine.^8,5,4

Cleveland Clinic gastroenterologist Christine Lee, MD, compares the noise to water trickling down the gutters of a house, and says the noises sometimes get amplified depending on the amount of food, liquid and gas traveling through. Where you hear it is a clue: upper-belly noise is more likely your stomach, lower-belly noise more likely your colon, she says.⁹ The table sets out the usual sounds, when they come, and what the sources say is behind them.

Sources 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9, linked below. Each row reports its source's own account of that sound, not a diagnosis of yours.

The sound on its own tells a doctor little. In a 2014 study, 41 surgical and internal medicine clinicians listened to recordings of bowel sounds from healthy volunteers and from patients with two kinds of bowel problem, without any other clinical details. They picked out the normal recordings correctly 32% of the time, and the authors concluded that listening alone does not separate normal from abnormal sounds.¹⁰ MedlinePlus says abdominal sounds are always evaluated together with other symptoms.¹

Why does my stomach growl when I'm hungry?

Because an empty gut keeps working. During fasting, a repeating pattern of contractions called the migrating motor complex runs through the stomach and small bowel, and eating interrupts it. Its most active phase, a burst of contractions that travels down the gut, comes back every 90 to 120 minutes. Its job, a 2013 review says, is to clean out the empty stomach before the next meal.^11,2

That burst lines up with feeling hungry. In a 2016 study in Leuven, Belgium, fasting healthy volunteers rated their hunger through each phase of the cycle: ratings averaged 62.5 when the active phase started in the stomach, against 27.4 and 37 in the two quieter phases, and 40.4 when it started lower down in the small intestine. Hunger ratings tracked blood levels of the hormone motilin, and the authors called the stomach-started phase a hunger signal from the gut.⁶

"Even when you're not eating, your gut is moving."

Noise is a poor clock for hunger, though. Harvard Health says a noisy abdomen does not necessarily mean you are hungry, and that "a much more reliable sign is actually feeling hungry."⁵ Cleveland Clinic says hunger can set in as soon as two hours after your last meal.⁹

Why does my stomach gurgle after eating?

Because digestion is under way. MedlinePlus says hyperactive bowel sounds, which mean more intestinal activity, can happen after eating. What you ate can add to it: when sugars the small intestine cannot absorb reach the colon, such as lactose in people low in lactase, fructose, or the sugar alcohols in sugar-free gum and diet sodas, gut bacteria break them down and release gas, and moving gas is noisy.^1,7,3

Lactose is the example Dr. Bailen calls most common. NIDDK says symptoms can start within a few hours of milk products, and lists stomach "growling" or rumbling sounds among them, along with bloating and belly pain.^3,7 Sugar alcohols are another. "Many of my patients have cut down on artificial sweeteners, and that has helped to eliminate the problem," he says.³

Which foods make the most gas, and what in each one does it, is set out in why am I so gassy?

Why is my stomach gurgling all the time?

Usually because one everyday cause keeps repeating: a food that does not agree with you, swallowed air, stress or loose stools. Dr. Lee says stress can make some people's intestines go into spasms, which Cleveland Clinic says can bring diarrhea and grumbling, and MedlinePlus says hyperactive bowel sounds can come with diarrhea. Dr. Bailen adds that some people have a heightened sense of what is going on inside their bodies, so they hear or feel it more.^9,1,3

Constant gurgling with discomfort is a different matter. Dr. Lee says consistent discomfort and gurgling from the lower belly can be a sign of a digestive condition, and that a provider can help find the cause.⁹ Gurgling that comes with a full, tight or swollen belly is bloating too, and its causes are set out in what causes bloating? Swallowed air that comes back up instead is covered in why am I burping so much?

How can I stop my stomach from gurgling?

Work on the cause you can change. For hunger noise, Cleveland Clinic suggests eating at similar times each day; for gas noise, Dr. Bailen suggests eating more slowly and not talking or exercising while chewing, and cutting back on sugar alcohols. Dr. Alsheik suggests avoiding, or eating smaller portions of, foods that cause excessive stomach noises or discomfort. MedlinePlus notes that most bowel sounds simply mean the gut is working.^9,3,4

Dr. Lee's advice for meals is short: "Chew thoroughly and swallow slowly." She adds that rushing can lead to swallowing air and can cause abdominal bloating.⁹ If the noise comes in a quiet meeting from an empty stomach, Cleveland Clinic's tip is to plan ahead and eat one to two hours before.⁹

When is stomach gurgling a sign of a problem?

When it comes with other symptoms. "These noises are normal, as long as they aren't accompanied by other gastrointestinal symptoms, such as pain, nausea, excessive bloating, distention, diarrhea or constipation," Dr. Alsheik says, and MedlinePlus says to contact a provider for bleeding from the rectum, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea or constipation that continues. Harvard Health adds that with belly pain, doctors worry more when the sounds are absent.^4,1,5

Drawn from Henry Ford Health, MedlinePlus and Cleveland Clinic, sources 1, 4 and 9.⁹

Where Physician's Choice fits

This answer names no Physician's Choice product. Its sources describe how the gut moves and what makes it noisy; not one of them looked at a supplement for stomach sounds. The site's answer on supplements for gas after meals, matched to the foods behind it, is what supplement helps with gas and bloating after eating?

The answer, in short

Stomach gurgling is mostly the sound of muscles moving food, fluid and gas through your gut, and MedlinePlus says most of it is normal. An empty gut growls because it keeps working between meals, in waves every 90 to 120 minutes, and foods such as milk, sugar alcohols and swallowed air add gas that rumbles. Noise that comes with pain, vomiting, bleeding or a change in bowel habits needs a doctor.

Page history

More answers on this site

• Why am I burping so much? Swallowed air, sulfur burps and when to see a doctorAir that comes back up.
• Why am I so gassy? The usual causes, food by foodWhat in each food makes gas.
• What causes bloating? Common causes and the clue for eachWhen it starts, and what that points to.
• How long does bloating last? What ends it, cause by cause, and when to see a doctorBloating, cause by cause, with times.
• How to keep a food diary for bloating: what to log and how to read itA template for meals, symptoms and timing.
• What is a FODMAP? The low-FODMAP diet and bloating, food by foodThe diet that tests foods one group at a time.
• Tea for bloating: peppermint, ginger, fennel and what each was tested forHerbal teas, source by source.
• Over-the-counter bloating relief: what each option doesWhat is on the pharmacy shelf.
• What supplement helps with gas and bloating after eating?Supplements, food by food.
• Do digestive enzymes help with bloating? What studies tested, and what is still unknownWhat the enzyme trials measured.
• Digestive enzymes side effects: are they safe to take every day?Cautions, source by source.

Sources

1. MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Abdominal soundsReview date 10/9/2024. Opened Oct 22, 2026.
2. Takahashi T. Interdigestive migrating motor complex, its mechanism and clinical importance. J Smooth Muscle Res. 2013;49:99-111PMC 5137267. Full text read Oct 22, 2026.
3. Tufts Now: Why does my stomach growl and make noises?With Laurence Bailen, MD, gastroenterologist, Tufts University School of Medicine. October 17, 2013. Opened Oct 22, 2026.
4. Henry Ford Health: Why does my stomach make noises? What's normal and when to seek helpWith gastroenterologist Eva Alsheik, MD. September 2, 2026. Opened Oct 22, 2026.
5. Harvard Health: Stomach growling and other digestive noiseBy Robert H. Shmerling, MD. May 4, 2026. Opened Oct 22, 2026.
6. Tack J, Deloose E, Ang D, et al. Motilin-induced gastric contractions signal hunger in man. Gut. 2016;65(2):214-24PubMed 25539673. Abstract read Oct 22, 2026.
7. NIDDK: Symptoms and causes of lactose intoleranceLast reviewed February 2018. Opened Oct 22, 2026.
8. NIDDK: Your digestive system and how it worksLast reviewed December 2017. Opened Oct 22, 2026.
9. Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials: Why do I get hunger pangs?With gastroenterologist Christine Lee, MD. June 8, 2023. Opened Oct 22, 2026.
10. Felder S, Margel D, Murrell Z, Fleshner P. Usefulness of bowel sound auscultation: a prospective evaluation. J Surg Educ. 2014;71(5):768-73PubMed 24776861. Abstract read Oct 22, 2026.
11. Deloose E, Janssen P, Depoortere I, Tack J. The migrating motor complex: control mechanisms and its role in health and disease. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2012;9(5):271-85PubMed 22450306. Abstract read Oct 22, 2026.