BrainStuff Classics: Why Do We Get Hiccups?

What's happening when you get hiccups, and how can you stop them? Learn what science knows -- and doesn't know -- in this classic episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Hey rain Stuff. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today's episode is
another classic. In this one, we go into the widely
annoying but surprisingly confounding causes and hears of hiccups. Hey

(00:22):
brain Stuff, I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today's question is how
do we get hiccups? Science isn't sure, actually, but it's
not that medical science has been ignoring hiccups. When these
spasms are frequent or persistent in adults, they can indicate
over a hundred different diseases and disorders, from multiple sclerosis
to cancer to appendicitis, and hiccups themselves can get serious

(00:44):
and what's called intractable cases. Hiccups don't stop for more
than a month and can go on for years without relief,
leading to complications like a regular heartbeat, weight loss, insomnia,
and emotional distress. Understandably, but okay, science isn't totally ignorant here.
We know the basics. Hiccups are reflexive spasms of the
diaphragm and glottis and more on both of those in

(01:06):
a second caused by irritation to any of several nerves.
Throughout your body. During normal, non hiccuppy breathing, you move
air into and out of your lungs, partially thanks to
contractions of your diaphragm. It contracts pulling downward as you inhale,
giving your lungs room to expand, then releases, relaxing upward
and letting your lungs contract as you exhale, and all

(01:29):
that air moves through your throat and importantly through your glottis,
which is the opening between your vocal cords. But during
a hiccup, at least half of your diaphragm for some
reason contracts sharply about eighty percent of the time, it's
just the left half. Go figure that contraction starts pulling
in a deep breath, but that breath gets cut short

(01:50):
by the glottis snapping shut about three hundreds of a
second later. The hicck sound comes from that sudden closure.
In most cases, hiccups are caused by irritation of the
fhrenic nerves, which control the motion of the diaphragm and
send your brain sensory information about what's going on in
various parts of your neck and body. That irritation is

(02:10):
usually from your stomach distending when you accidentally swallow air,
or when you eat or drink too much too fast,
especially carbonated beverages like soda or beer. In rarer cases,
lots of other irritations can be at fault more serious
than having over drank soda or beer, such as infections
of or trauma to anything that the fhrenic nerves touch,

(02:30):
like a tumor pressing against them in your neck, or pericarditis,
which is the swelling of the membrane around your heart.
Irritations of the vagus nerve can also be hiccup culprits,
possibly due to its connection to the larynx, along with
everything from your small intestine to the inside of your ear,
and lots of stuff in between. If you're looking to
get rid of hiccups, some of the most common home

(02:51):
remedies really are worthwhile. They work by either overloading the
frenic or vagus nerves or by interrupting your involuntary breathing cycle.
For nerve overload, try biting into a lemon, placing a
spoonful of sugar on the back of your tongue, pulling
on your tongue, or having a friend tickler scare you
on the respiratory and try holding your breath, gulping down

(03:12):
a glass of water, or breathing into a paper bag
and if nothing works, hiccups generally go away on their own.
If they do stick around for more than forty eight hours,
see a doctor just in case. The purpose behind this
reflex is still a mystery. Some researchers say that they
could be vestigial spasms related to how our amphibian ancestors
controlled their gills. Others postulate that they help with breastfeeding.

(03:36):
Hiccups can release small amounts of air from the stomach
into the esophagus, where it can be exhaled, so hiccups
might serve to get air out of baby stomachs, making
more space for milk. Today's episode is based on a
script that I wrote for a brain stuff video for
how stuff works dot Com. The brain Stuff is production

(03:57):
of I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works
dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more
podcasts my heart Radio, visit the a heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.