Pace Paw Print

Hiccups are the "sudden involuntary contractions of the diaphragm muscle." These contractions cause individuals to take in deep breaths that are stopped with the closing of the vocal cords. When the vocal cords close down on the intake of air, it produces the 'hiccup' sound.

Hiccups tend to disappear on their own. However, individuals do not always want to wait those few seconds or minutes for them to disappear.

Some old time treatments that experts believe work in curing hiccups include:

*Holding your breath for ten seconds

*Drinking a glass of cold water quickly

* Breathing quickly into a paper bag (for a short time)

* Becoming frightened

* Place sugar on the back of the tongue

* Pull hard on the tongue

It is believed that some of these at-home treatments help eliminate hiccups because it increases carbon

dioxide in the blood or stimulates the vagus nerve of the brain that reaches the stomach.

These two factors are generally thought to distract the brain. For instance, an increase in carbon dioxide in the blood interferes with breathing. As a result, the body forgets about the hiccups as it tries to fix this new problem.

Similarly, the overstimulation of the vagus nerve alarms the brain that a more important condition has arisen and causes it to abandon the hiccups.

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