Why do you get hiccups when you're drunk?

Question

It's an old cartoon cliché, and I've seen it happen to two people in the past three months, but I've never understood it.

Answer 1

The reason is this...hiccups are spasms in the digestive tract. When you drink, your metabolic rate slows down, as does your digestion. When this happens, it can cause spasms. This is why you hiccup when you drink. It may be annoying for you, but it is truly comical for the people around you! Have a wonderful Christmas!

Answer 2

Drunk Hiccups

Answer 3

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RE:
Why do you get hiccups when you're drunk?
It's an old cartoon cliché, and I've seen it happen to two people in the past three months, but I've never understood it.

Answer 4

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I have. I find that if I haven't eaten before I drink, I get the hiccups really easlily.

Answer 5

A hiccup or hiccough (generally pronounced "HICK-cup" (IPA: [ˈhɪ.kəp]) independent of the spelling) is an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm; typically this repeats several times a minute. The sudden rush of air into the lungs causes the glottis to close, creating the "hic" noise. A bout of hiccups generally resolves by itself, although many home remedies are in circulation to shorten the duration, and medication is occasionally necessary. By extension, the term "hiccup" is also used to describe a small and unrepeated aberration in an otherwise consistent pattern. The medical term is singultus.

While many cases develop spontaneously, hiccups are known to develop often in specific situations, such as eating too quickly, taking a cold drink while eating a hot meal, eating very hot or spicy food, laughing vigorously or coughing, drinking an excess of an alcoholic beverage, or electrolyte imbalance. Hiccups may be caused by pressure to the phrenic nerve by other anatomical structures, or rarely by tumors and certain kidney disease. It is reported that 30% of chemotherapy patients suffer singultus as a side effect to treatment. (American Cancer Society)

One possible beneficial effect of hiccups is to dislodge large chunks of food, which have become stuck in the esophagus, or which are traveling too slowly. When a large piece of food is swallowed, which the natural peristalsis of the esophagus is unable to move quickly into the stomach, it applies pressure on the phrenic nerve, invoking the hiccup reflex. This causes the diaphram to contract, creating a vacuum in the thoracic cavity, which creates a region of low pressure on the side of the lump of food nearest the stomach, and a region of high pressure on the side of the lump of food nearest the mouth. This pressure differential accross the food creates a force, which assists peristalsis. In humans, gravity partially assists peristalsis, but in quadrupeds and many marine vertebrates, their esophagi run roughly parallel to the force of gravity, so that gravity provides little assistance. The hiccup mechanism likely evolved as an aid to peristalsis in our ancestors. It only now appears to offer little benefit, because humans are upright, so that gravity assists peristalsis, making it very unlikely for food to become lodged in the esophagus.

Ultrasounds have also shown that unborn foetuses experience hiccups. Some suggested hypotheses include hiccups as a possible muscle exercise for the child's respiratory system prior to birth or as a preventive measure to keep amniotic fluid from entering the lungs. More research is required to ascertain their true nature, origins, and purpose, if any.

Answer 6

Alcohol irritates the phrenic nerve, further exacerbated by carbonation in beer or champagne.