For a split second, your body pretends to inhale. The diaphragm and auxiliary breathing muscles contract, and the ribs expand. But then it happens: the inhaled breath hits the closed glottis with a loud hiccup. And not just once, but again and again. You have a hiccup.
Causes of hiccups
Possible triggers for the irresistible hiccup can be:
- Very cold or hot foods and drinks
- Overabundant meals
- Hasty eating, drinking or smoking
- Strong nervousness or excitement
- Rarely accompanying symptoms of various diseases such as inflammatory reactions in the stomach or esophagus
Sharp changes in temperature irritate the stomach and diaphragm. Therefore, allow ice cream and iced drinks to thaw slightly before consumption. Dishes from the microwave, soups and hot drinks, on the other hand, you should let cool down a bit. If you eat or drink in a hurry, you often swallow a lot of air at the same time. An overfull stomach puts pressure on the diaphragm.
Instead of three sumptuous meals, eat five to six smaller meals a day. Drink without haste and eat slowly, chewing each bite carefully. This not only protects against hiccups, but also serves to enhance culinary enjoyment.
Home remedies for hiccups
Normally, hiccups pass as soon as the diaphragm calms down. To shorten the time, many resort to one of the countless home remedies for hiccups:
- Breathe into a paper bag to increase the carbon dioxide content in the blood.
- Drink a glass of water standing on his head
- Hold your breath and swallow at the moment you feel the hiccups coming (repeat several times)
- Cover your ears with both thumbs, at the same time squeeze the nostrils with your little fingers and puff out your cheeks with closed lips
- While sitting bend forward or tighten the knees, this puts pressure on the chest
- Drink vinegar or eat sugar
- Scare!
Home remedies are usually based on the same principle: to irritate part of the autonomic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system. The nerves report this to the hiccup center in the brain and the hiccups stop. Proven success of these tricks is not, they are usually worth a try to the afflicted.
Chronic hiccups
If the hiccups last more than a day or keep recurring, you should see a doctor. Hiccups that won’t stop may indicate serious medical conditions that need to be treated. It can also lead to hypoxia. Chronic hiccups are a very rare condition and affect 99.9 percent of men.
Origin and meaning of hiccups
For a long time, scientists puzzled over the biological meaning of hiccups. Researchers from Paris now suspect that hiccups are a remnant of gill breathing. Lungfish, for example, which have both lungs and gills, spray water over their gills by compressing their oral cavity. In doing so, they close their glottis to prevent water from entering the lungs.
Apparently, the part of the brain responsible for the movements of gill breathing has been preserved over millions of years and also controls the glottis in humans. But why has the seemingly useless hiccup been preserved for us? It is thought to help babies suck. The sequence of muscle movements during hiccups is similar to that of infants during breastfeeding. During this process, the baby’s glottis closes to prevent milk from entering the lungs.