• Question: why do we get hiccups

    Asked by nishathchoudhury17 to Lyn, Katy, Paul, PB on 27 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Peter Balfe

      Peter Balfe answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      Insofar as I know, a hiccup is a “twitch” of the diaphragm muscles, which generates an intense burst of air from the lungs to dislodge something. The feedback to stop the twitch when the stimulus has gone can be very slow, – a bout of hiccups is the result.

    • Photo: Ee Lyn Lim

      Ee Lyn Lim answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      There are some interesting theories about why we get hiccups! It seems only animals that drink milk (mammals) get hiccups, and babies get hiccups a lot more than older children or adults. Some scientists think that when babies suckle milk, sometimes air gets into their stomach, and it can be uncomfortable as well as stopping them from drinking more milk. So when a nerve in your stomach senses an air bubble, it will make you hiccup – to try and force the air out through your mouth. That might not always be the case – we still don’t know what causes random hiccups in adults! But whatever the reason, hiccups are caused by sudden, regular contractions of your diaphragm, which is why you can often make them go away by taking a deep breath or swallowing to break the cycle.

    • Photo: Paul Waines

      Paul Waines answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      hi nishathchoudhury17

      everyone gets them, but we don’t know why!

      One theory is that we get them because before humans could stand upright (so I’m talking years ago), we used hiccups as a way of getting food down into our stomachs.

      This might explain why fast eating and drinking causes it, especially drinking fizzy drinks in my case- we are trying to get rid of something. Apparently dogs also get hiccups a lot because they always eat so quickly!

      Hope this helps (hic!)

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