why (not how) do we hiccup?

Answer 1

The reason why humans hiccup has baffled scientists for hundreds of years, not least because it does not seem to serve any useful purpose.

Truth is no one really knows why we hiccup. It is mostly babies who suffer from hiccupping and as you get older it becomes less of a problem. You might even have seen some animals like cats hiccupping.

Some people say that hiccups are a response by your body to having too little carbon dioxide in your bloodstream and sometimes you get hiccups when you eat too fast. So hiccups could be helping you control your breathing. We all think we breathe naturally but newborn babies have never had to breathe before it is quite new to them so maybe hiccups remind them to breathe and help them regulate the speed they take breaths at.

Just one of those things in life that God has put in place for a valid reason that humans really cannot understand. Although we all cannot find an exact reason that withstands all tests - there is definitely a reason for it.

Answer 2

Most simple cases of hiccups come after eating or drinking too much or too quickly. The stomach, which is situated right below the diaphragm, becomes distended and irritates it. This will cause the diaphragm to contract, as it does when we breathe in.

Sometimes hiccups will occur because of a disturbance to the nerve pathways from the brain to the muscles involved. This explains why hiccups may occur with temperature changes or emotional situations. It is also the reason that a sudden shock can sometimes abolish an attack.

Persistent hiccups may signify problems in the brain, spinal cord or any of the structures around the diaphragm or chest wall.

Answer 3

Most simple cases of hiccups come after eating or drinking too much or too quickly. The stomach, which is situated right below the diaphragm, becomes distended and irritates it. This will cause the diaphragm to contract, as it does when we breathe in.Sometimes hiccups will occur because of a disturbance to the nerve pathways from the brain to the muscles involved. This explains why hiccups may occur with temperature changes or emotional situations. It is also the reason that a sudden shock can sometimes abolish an attack

Answer 4

Hiccups are sudden, involuntary contractions of the diaphragm, a sheet of muscle which separates the chest cavity from the abdomen, and which plays a key role in the breathing process.

As the muscle contracts repeatedly, the opening between the vocal cords snaps shut to check the inflow of air and makes the hiccup sound.

In many cases hiccups are linked to irritation of the nerves that extend from the neck to the chest.

Answer 5

A hiccup or hiccough (normally pronounced "HICK-up" (IPA: [ˈhɪ.kʌp]) 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

Answer 6

I think hiccupping is very important in newborn babies as a mechanism for testing and training the diaphragm - which is obviously essential in breathing and therefore completely vital to the baby's survival. Babies hiccup quite regularly, possibly as a "drill" for the diaphragm. The feature is retained into adulthood, where it is an irrelevant artefact of our development.

Answer 7

we hiccup because a little man in our stomach pokes our diaphragm when he gets bored and laughs hysterically when he times it juuuuust right so that you hiccup right in the middle of a word...or when your laughing...which then makes you immediately stop laughing

Answer 8

Because your diaphragm goes out of balance.