What make someone hiccup?

Question

Seriosuly, what makes a person hiccup? What causes it? What is the body trying to do when it hiccups?

I had them at work today for like 3 hours. So I wondered about it.

Answer 1

The part to blame is your diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle at the bottom of your chest, and all hiccups start here.

The diaphragm almost always works perfectly. It pulls down when you inhale to help pull air into the lungs, and it pushes up when you exhale to help push air out of the lungs.

But sometimes the diaphragm becomes irritated, and when this happens, it pushes up in a jerky way that makes your breath come out differently from how it normally does. When this irregular breath hits your voice box, you're left with a big hiccup.

Some things that irritate the diaphragm are eating too quickly or too much, an irritation in the stomach or the throat, or feeling nervous or excited. Almost all cases of the hiccups last only a few minutes. Some cases of the hiccups can last for days or weeks, but this is very unusual, and it's usually a sign of another medical problem.

You've probably heard lots of suggestions for how to get rid of hiccups, and maybe you've even tried a few. Breathing into a paper bag is one way some people can get rid of their hiccups, other people say that drinking from the wrong side of a glass of water is the way to become hiccup-free. Putting sugar under your tongue might work, too.

And maybe the most famous treatment - having someone jump out and scare you when you're not expecting it, helps some people wave good-bye to their hiccups.

hope this helps...DOODDDDDLESS...

Answer 2

Here's a paragraph from Wikipedia explaining the basics of that undesirable hiccuping that you experience :
"A hiccup or hiccough (normally pronounced "HICK-up" (IPA: [ˈhɪ.kəp]) regardless of 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" listen (help·info) noise. A bout of hiccups generally resolves itself without intervention, although many home remedies are in circulation that claim 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."


Here's how you treat it. If you tried these methods earlier, you could've avoided having to suffer so much:
"Ordinary hiccups are cured easily without medical intervention; in most cases they can be stopped simply by forgetting about them. However, there are a number of anecdotally prescribed treatments for casual cases of hiccups. These include being startled, drinking water while upside down, eating something very sweet or very tart (particularly lemon juice) [2], and anything that interrupts one's breathing. Lightly pressing one's thumbs on the forehead about an inch above the eyes is an effective treatment.["

For more information and the rest of the page go to this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiccup

Good Luck!

Answer 3

It is simply air trapped in the diaphram. There isn't really an explanation for having them, some people get them often, others very rarely. There are a lot of home remedies for hiccups, I am not sure if they work or not. I have always wondered, would they have gone away anyway if you didn't eat the spoonful of sugar, or hold your breath, or have someone scare you? My guess is, yes, they would probably go away on their own.

They are nothing to be concerned about. Just an annoyance when they come on.

Answer 4

It's your diaphragm spazzing out.

I have a foolproof cure: Read something out loud, VERY dramatically like you are pretending to be a grrrreat theaterrrr actooooorrrr. Do it for at least 3 minutes. I learned this trick accidentally when I was a radio DJ. I had to go on even though I had hiccups, and they went away as soon as I started talking like an announcer instead of a real person.

Answer 5

Potentially, irritation of the phrenic nerve, the nerve that supplies the diaphragm (the breathing muscle) can cause hiccups. This irritation could be infection, drying, compression etc.

Answer 6

the dictatany says too much air in the lungs to fast make hiccups.

Answer 7

Swallowing too much air. While laughing, while drinking (when you make a lot of noise drinking, you are swallowing too much air), while talking too long without taking a breath. Too much air causes your body to release it through a burp, a poot, or hic ups. It all depends on your body's mood.

Answer 8

Swallowing air. Air goes down wrong pipe.

Answer 9

It is caused by an irritation to the diaphragm.

Answer 10

it happens when there's an itch on the diaphragm, which is the muscle that inflates/deflates the lungs