The Science Behind Hic-Hic-Hiccups!
- Ayushmaan Mishra
- Jul 29
- 2 min read
Now and then, all of us get hiccups. They tend to be sooooo annoying because once they start, it feels like they never end. So why do they actually occur?
Hiccups occur when your diaphragm (located beneath your lungs) contracts. This is generally due to something irritating the nerves that cause your diaphragm to contract in the first place (namely your vagus nerve and phrenic nerve). The contraction itself is generally an involuntary function, or something you can't control.
The hiccups we tend to get are called transient hiccups, which last for a relatively short period. There are certain factors that can trigger, not cause, the hiccups, such as eating too fast, eating too much, eating foods that have extreme temperatures (too hot or too cold), drinking carbonated beverages such as sodas, swallowing too much air, etc.
Transient hiccups tend to go away on their own. However, sometimes people want to try their own home remedies to make them go away faster. If you want to try something at home yourself, you can hold your breath, swallow a spoonful of sugar, bite into a lemon (yuck!), etc. One method that worked for me was getting scared by someone else (I had to learn that the hard way :P).
Sometimes, people get hiccups that last wayyyyy longer than a few minutes. These are known as persistent hiccups and are caused by inner body diseases, conditions, tumors, and sometimes even medicine! These are more irritable than transient hiccups and can cause difficulty in breathing and speaking, lack of sleep, and even weight loss. You would need to undergo medical tests and processes to remove these hiccups.
Did you know that even babies can get hiccups? They tend to swallow too much air while eating, which inflates their stomach and irritates their diaphragm. However, this is very common in newborns and nothing to worry about!
In short, hiccups are caused by the contracting of your diaphragm and can be triggered by various factors. They go away on their own, but home remedies can help them go away quicker. Maybe next time you encounter an annoying stream of hiccups, you can count on someone to give you a good scare!
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