"It’s easy, anybody can do it," you’ve heard people say, and though it may be true about some things, other life tasks require more skill and discipline.
For example, getting rid of hiccups is easy if you have the knowledge, the physical coordination, and the discipline to do it.
The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle attached to the inside edge of your rib cage. It automatically flexes and relaxes with a somewhat regular rhythm. When it flexes, the domed muscle pulls down, flattens out, and sucks air into your lungs. When it relaxes, it resumes its natural domed shape, which reduces the available space for your lungs, so air escapes.
Occasionally, the nerves between your spine and your diaphragm get short-circuited, and this causes the diaphragm to spasm suddenly and without warning, sucking some air into your lungs. If it happens over and over with a recurring and uncontrollable rhythm, this is called hiccups. The nerve signal never gets to the brain, so there is nothing you can consciously do to stop the spasms.
By the way, if a doctor tells you this isn’t really what causes hiccups, you can probably ignore them. It is more important that you understand that it is a physical problem that can be fixed with a physical solution that is applied with discipline.
When you flex the diaphragm muscle hard enough so that it cannot spasm for about 20 to 30 seconds, the nerve connection between the diaphragm and the spine is overwhelmed with signals from the brain to flex, so when you relax, the normal nerve signals are restored and the spasms stop.
Holding your breath in the usual way won’t fix it, because the air is held by your throat, which allows the diaphragm to relax, which in turn allows it to spasm. The same is true about drinking a glass of water which adds an additional risk of inhaling some water when you hiccup while drinking.
To get rid of hiccups, take a very deep breath without holding it with your throat, then suck in more air until you really feel inflated. The more relaxed you are, the more you can inflate. Suck in a little more, never closing your throat. When your body feels really inflated, keep your throat open so that if you let go of the diaphragm, air would start coming out, but hold it in with a continuous attempt to intake more air, even though you are full. Hold the air in your lungs for 20 to 30 seconds then slowly let the air out, which relaxes your diaphragm. If you pulled on the air hard enough for long enough, the hiccups should stop.
Tell yourself that you’ll be able to do it next time, and wait a few minutes. The next time, approach it with a tremendous determination to succeed. Do the exercise harder and longer than you did the first time.
Most people can do it with practice, but it requires some skill and discipline, and if you can do the technique, then you can stop hiccups.
If the hiccups still don't stop, bury a dead cat under an oak tree while crossing your fingers.
© 2008 by Publishing Foundations Corp.
For information on reprint rights,
use our Contact Us page
