Who has not ever suffered hiccups? This awkward travel companion who almost always appears for no apparent reason and disappears in the same way often generates conflicting feelings. Sometimes hiccups cause laughter, others anxiety -can you imagine suffering from it during a job interview, for example-, but it almost never leaves us indifferent. If we don’t suffer it, we forget about it, but when it makes an appearance, the same questions almost always arise: why do i hiccup and now how can I remove it? In these lines we will give you some keys to answer these questions about hiccups.
Hiccups are caused by a sudden breath of air caused by spasmodic, involuntary and usually repetitive contraction of the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles. The contraction of the diaphragm, a fundamental muscle -without it it would be impossible for us to breathe- is what generates the strange noise and pressure that we feel when we hiccup. The contraction and relaxation of the diaphragm is controlled by the so-called phrenic nerve. However, when this organ sends its impulses in the wrong way, then the diaphragm suddenly contracts and causes abnormal sudden inspiration and also causes the glottis to close. so how hiccups arise.
Although, as we said, hiccups often arise in a totally unpredictable way, on other occasions there are reasons that cause the abnormal functioning of the phrenic nerve. Among them, we can cite eating in large quantities or very quickly -especially certain types of food, such as bread-, gastric distension due to aerophagia, consumption of carbonated drinks, alcohol abuse or anxiety.
Fortunatelyin many cases the hiccups only last for a few minutes, despite the fact that there have been persistent cases in which it has lasted for days and even weeks. These last extreme cases are those caused by persistent hiccups -more than 48 hours-, which often require the intervention of medical professionals to be treated and to find out the causes of their origin. In these cases of persistent hiccups, it is assumed that it is a disease and is related to some type of condition of the phrenic nerve.
In the case of acute hiccups -the most common- you know what causes it, but you don’t know why it causes it. For some, it is a phenomenon related to evolutionary causes and its conservation with respect to primitive ancestors related to breathing in and out of water (frogs or amphibians), although there is not much agreement between the scientific and medical community about this hypothesis. Another argument points out that hiccups would be the reaction through which the body would transmit the message to us that we stop eating so much in order to process all food properly.
When it is not about severe cases such as long-term hiccups, there are a series of “home remedies” that can help us remove this annoying travel companion, although we must clarify that results are not 100% guaranteed.
Stop breathing. Stopping the breath for periods of about 15 seconds often helps the glottis to reopen and the hiccups to disappear.
Get scared When we are surprised with a fright, we momentarily stop breathing and then the respiratory rate returns to normal, sometimes causing the hiccups to disappear.
Breathe deeply and slowly. This solution will also allow us to normalize the sudden contractions of the diaphragm and will make breathing harmonize again.
Compress the diaphragm. This solution consists of exerting a force on the diaphragm by controlling the contraction and relaxation impulses that act on it.
Perform a massage at the point of union between the clavicle and the sternum. In this area is where the two phrenic nerves that arise from the spinal cord and that are the cause of hiccups run.
Placing a hot or cold object on the stomach. This part of our body is very sensitive to changes in temperature, so by placing a hot or cold object on this area we will cause an alteration in the respiratory rate that will make the hiccups disappear.
Drink a glass upside down. This solution to remove the hiccups is not effective. This is a false myth, although it may have worked for some because when you ingest a liquid backwards you stop breathing momentarily and the respiratory cycle restarts later. But this has nothing to do with the fact of drinking a glass upside down.
Take sugar. Ingesting this product will produce an “overload” in the nerve terminals of the tongue and will help us to get rid of the hiccups.
Cover your ears. For some people this remedy works, as the phrenic nerve endings go into action to stimulate the nerve endings in the ear.
Drink water or gargle. This solution will also help us normalize the respiratory cycle and put an end to hiccups.
Slowly chew some food. This action will also allow us to normalize our breathing and remove the hiccups.
Breathe into a bag. This remedy has also been found to be a good solution to end hiccups.