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Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021

Does drinking water while standing damage the body’s organs?

Alexis Tereszcuk, Lead Stories
no

Contrary to a social media post labeled as a "healthy tip," drinking water while standing does not damage the body, a UCLA medical expert told Lead Stories.

The opposite is true in many cases: fundamental treatments for common ailments call for patients to remain standing after eating and drinking and refrain from eating or drinking within 1-2 hours of bedtime, as lying down with a full stomach can lead to digestive problems.

Dr. Daniel V. Vigil, Health Sciences Clinical Professor at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, illustrated this point by citing the treatment protocol for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder (GERD):

"One of the fundamental treatment concepts for GERD is to remain upright (standing) for 30-60 minutes after eating and drinking."

Vigil added, "Drinking water while standing in no way damages the stomach or surrounding organs."

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

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Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.

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