Hiccups: We’ve all experienced them at some point or another. For some, they may even occur at the worst time possible — during a job interview or an important meeting, or on a first date.
Fortunately for the majority of us, an embarrassing or irritating bout of hiccups usually subsides after a few minutes. But in 1922, Charles Osborne experienced a bout of hiccups that lasted 68 years, until they finally stopped in 1990. Hiccups are caused by the involuntary spasms of the diaphragm. When the diaphragm tightens to help remove excess air in the stomach, hiccups are the result. There are several factors that can cause hiccups, including:
- Overeating or eating too fast — Eating too fast causes you to swallow more air than normal and prevents your body from being able to gauge your stomach’s contents, which can cause hiccups.
- Drinking alcohol — Alcohol can often lead to hiccups because it causes acid reflux. Acid reflux irritates the vagus nerve that runs from the brain to the abdomen, which can lead to hiccups.
- Eating spicy food — The release of cryptocapsin, capsaicin, capsicidin and other chemicals commonly found in spicy foods can irritate the esophagus and the stomach and even travel to the lungs. As the body attempts to expel the chemical from your lungs, hiccups may result.
- Stress — Stress and anxiety can lead to a rapid change in breathing patterns, which puts pressure on the diaphragm and can lead to hiccups.
- Drinking carbonated beverages — Soda and other carbonated beverages allow excess carbon dioxide (CO2) to enter your stomach. Hiccups are the body’s way of expelling the excess CO2.
So once you have hiccups, how can you get rid of them? Chances are, having someone scare you isn’t going to do the trick. What works for you might not work for someone else and vice versa. But here are the top tricks you can try to stop hiccups in their track:
- Breathe into a paper bag — Breathing into a paper bag can help stop hiccups by increasing carbon dioxide that enters the lungs, which allows the diaphragm to contract and restore normal breathing.
- Drink water — Drinking water restores a kind of rhythmic movement along your esophagus, which helps your body override the spasms of the diaphragm.
- Eat a spoonful of raw almond butter — Believe it or not, this can help. The process of trying to swallow the paste of the butter interrupts the breathing pattern and rhythm of the hiccups!
- Eat a lemon wedge with bitter angostura — If you’ve ever been in a bar or a restaurant and noticed someone struggling with hiccups, you may have heard a bartender spout off this remedy. Eating a lemon wedge doused in bitter angostura (without the pit) is said to be a quick and easy hiccup remedy.
- Press on the palm on your hand with your thumb — Focusing on the pressure in the middle of your hand may help distract your body from the hiccups, thus stopping them altogether.
Have you tried any of these natural remedies for hiccups? What has worked for you?