I guess you could call this a shower thought but out of the blue I thought about this. How does our stomach acids not float up our throats in zero G? I’m not familiar with how our bodies work in space and would love to hear an explanation
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Your stomach acid isn’t kept in your stomach only by gravity. (You can tell by the fact that you can do a handstand without throwing up.)
Instead, there’s a valve called the [lower esophageal sphincter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esophagus#Sphincters) that keeps your stomach contents in your stomach. (“Sphincter” is an anatomical word for “a muscular valve that can open and close”; the common usage of the word to mean the *anal* sphincter is more specific than the medical use.)
Even here on Earth, when this sphincter malfunctions, stomach acid can work its way up your throat, causing minor tissue damage and irritation – you know this condition as *heartburn* (or more precisely as acid reflux, which is the most common cause of heartburn).
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