the.com/swallowing
The world's most automatic act becomes impossible the moment you think about it.
means The reflex of moving food, drink, or saliva from your mouth down your throat into your stomach — usually automatic, until you notice it.
from From Old English 'swelgan,' meaning to swallow or gulp down, a word Germanic languages share in various forms (Dutch 'zwelgen,' German 'schwelgen'). The root's deeper past is murky, but it has long carried a double life — the plain physical act, and a figurative one, as in swallowing pride or swallowing a story whole.
- daily count
- you swallow about 600 to 2000 times a day
- saliva alone
- most swallows contain no food, just spit
- speed
- the actual swallow reflex takes under a second
- self-aware swallowing
- thinking about it can briefly make it feel impossible