Have you noticed that often when you get up after sitting for a while, you have to burp?
This can be a problem when you’re rising from your chair after a business meeting, or from a seated position in church or on a plane.
Even if you haven’t eaten for a while, this may still happen.
You know that burp is coming the moment you stand up from having been sitting for a while – like on the job or at your home computer.
“Why do I burp when I get up after sitting for a time?”
“Burping or belching is a sound that is created from the release of gas from the stomach or intestines and out through the mouth,” says Alan Gingold, DO, a board certified gastroenterologist with the Digestive Healthcare Center of NJ.
“The gas comes from either swallowed air or from the creation of gas from the breakdown of certain foods during the digestion process.
“Gas rises, and so when someone is sitting for a prolonged period of time — depending on when they last ate, it is possible that as the digestive process takes place as gas is being created, the gas rises.
“And as a person stands up the gas is released via the belching process.”
The need to burp cannot be entirely prevented.
But to minimize this expulsion of air, try not to:
• Swallow air when you eat
• Swallow air when you drink
• Swallow air throughout the day when you breathe; breathe with your mouth closed. During vigorous exercise you’ll need to breathe with your mouth open, but try to keep it closed between sets.
In addition:
• Avoid eating a lot at once
• Avoid rapid eating
• Avoid talking while eating
Having to release a burp just because you rose from a chair is not a sign of a worrisome disease, though frequent belching despite good eating and breathing habits is often a sign of excessive acid reflux.
Dr. Gingold attributes his success to the extra time he spends with his patients. His areas of expertise include reflux disease, Barrett’s esophagus, capsule endoscopy, chronic liver disease and inflammatory bowel disease.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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