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More often than not " Urban legends" have some kind of truth in them. Since childhood I was told not to swim in the pool or the sea after eating - to wait 2-3 hours before going into the water

Last weekend my friends' of niece tragically died by drowning while on holiday in a local beach near Venice in Italy. Giorgia Del Longo was just 17 years of age. She was an angel, good at heart devoting her free time as a volunteer for charity, doing good for the others and for her local church.

What started as a great day at the beach with family and friends turned into a nightmare when Giorgia, after taking few steps into the sea collapsed and drowned, apparently her stomach had felt sick with cramps just after walking into the water, she feinted and disappeared under water, her friend and family immediately raised the alarm , she was brought ashore and given CPR for one hour by lifeguards and the local Green Cross Ambulance crew, she never came back.

I always believed the elderly as their life experience have thought them things science can't always explains, in fact our scientists tell us now that it makes no difference when to eat and when to swim but i strongly disagree.

Two reasons why we should not go into water just after eating - particularly on holiday:

Cramps and Stomach Congestion.

Each one of us is physically different, some individuals can train or workout half an hour after a meal, others have to wait one or two hours to avoid ' nausea '.

Digestion is a process which requires blood. During digestion the blood circulation is concentrated around the stomach area [which can temporarily weaken the legs]. However if we decide to go for a swim the blood is going to be distributed to the muscles, at this point the body must prioritize to create energy
(digest food) rather than use energy (swimming). As soon as the muscles stop receiving enough blood 'cramps' can result and consequently possible drowning.

Stomach Congestion:

Stomach congestion might happen when water temperature is lower than ambient temperature, the body gets a shock like a short circuit and sends mixed signals resulting in dizziness and feeling sick or weak all over the body, if a person go swimming with undigested food in the stomach these effects could possibly cause a blockage and a possible heart attack as it becomes too much for the body to deal with.

Note: the above mentioned are not science based facts as science has not been able to prove right or wrong, they are however based on experiences and reasoning by our old folks, to me personally thats is proof enough.

Why Giorgia died?
It will take sometime to understand the reasons and the stages of this tragedy,it seems that she had a heart attack, it happened in only few inches of water not at the deep end, but it did happen in water and no matter how shallow it is a person can still drown.

Could it have been prevented?
Only god can answer that, but we can take few precautions while on holiday or at the beach:

Wait 2 hours after your meal before swimming.
Watch your children all the time when they are in the water.
Don't drink alcohol at the beach.
Wear a hat as sunstroke is another culprit for some of this tragedies.

This tragedy also raised some questions, why defribilators are not ready available to lifeguards at the beach, it take only few minutes to lose a life and every second is vital.
We need to learn from these tragedies and hopefully they won t happen again.

Georgia was an angel and she'll be remembered as an angel, our thoughts are with her family.

Stefano Manassero