Why Do People Hiccup?
Why do people hiccup? As a kid, whenever I got the hiccups, my mom would ask me if they were the “growing hiccups or the dying hiccups,” and to this day, getting the hiccups freaks me out because I know I’m not growing any more, so I must be dying. It’s silly, but really, medical experts haven’t been able to come up with an explanation for the hiccups that’s any better than my mom’s “growing or dying” hypothesis. They can explain what happens when you hiccup, and everyone’s got their own remedy, but no one really knows why people hiccup.
Underneath your lungs, there is a dome-shaped muscle called the diaphragm. As you inhale, the diaphragm contracts (becomes tighter and smaller) to allow room for your lungs to expand and take in the air. As you exhale, the diaphragm is relaxes, naturally expanding to help push the air out of your lungs. The nerve that controls the diaphragm is called the phrenic nerve. There are right and left phrenic nerves, and they both begin in the C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae (in the neck part of your spine).
For some unknown reason, the phrenic nerve will, on occasion, cause the diaphragm to spasm. This spasm causes you to take in a sharp breath. Now, your body comes equipped with lots of very cool features to keep you alive. One of these is the epiglottis. The epiglottis is a piece of cartilage that sits in the back of your throat and prevents food from “going down the wrong pipe.” It opens to allow air to pass, but closes to prevent food and drink from going into your lungs. When your diaphragm spasms and causes you to take in a breath so quickly, the epiglottis reacts and snaps shut, which is what causes hiccups to be so abrupt, and also what causes you to make the “hiccup” sound.
Why Do People Hiccup?
No one knows why people hiccup. We only know what happens when we do. Some people have theorized that the hiccup once had a purpose, but over time, through evolution, we have gotten to a point where we no longer need to hiccup, but we still do (much like how we don’t need our appendix, but we still have it).
The best answer we have to the question, “Why do people hiccup?” is that the phrenic nerve somehow gets irritated, causing it to tell the diaphragm to spasm. This irritation can be triggered in different people by eating too quickly, eating spicy food, cold food, hot food, laughing, sneezing, coughing, or drinking too much alcohol. And of course, sometimes you get the hiccups for no discernible reason at all.
How To Get Rid of the Hiccups
Every family, it seems, has its own remedy for the hiccups. Some people say to drink water – in big gulps, small sips, or upside-down and backwards. Some people say to hold your breath – counting to ten, counting backwards from ten, or saying the alphabet (forwards or backwards). Some people say you need to be startled, some say you need to concentrate on something, some say you need to clear your mind completely. And everyone is a firm believer in his own hiccup remedy.
Whatever works for you, stick with it. In rare cases, people have experienced long stretches in which they could not get rid of their hiccups. The longest hiccup fit on record is held by Charles Osborne, who had the hiccups continually from 1922 until 1990 – 68 years!
If you have the hiccups for an extended amount of time, and you can’t get rid of them by any means, please see a doctor.
Although there is no good answer to the question, “Why do people hiccup?” there are at least several possible cures. Even if you have to seek medical assistance, paying the doctor bills and taking muscle relaxers has to be better than hiccuping continually for decades on end.