Hiccups can be embarrassing, inconvenient and annoying.
That’s why you need to know how to get rid of hiccups in a hurry.
What are hiccups and what causes them? Hiccups occur when the diaphragm contracts involuntarily and the vocal cords close suddenly. It is this unusual combination which creates the spasms that make you exclaim “hic.”
Hiccups can be triggered after drinking alcohol, eating a large meal, or becoming overly excited. If not treated, they will sometimes stop of their own accord. On the other hand they can last for a considerable time – even many hours.
But if you feel uncomfortable with your hiccup attack of a few minutes, spare a thought for the unfortunate Mr. Charles Osborne from Anthon, Iowa. He hiccuped CONTINUOUSLY for 68 years!
He began hiccuping in 1922, after a 350-pound hog collapsed on top of him while he was preparing to slaughter it. He continue to hiccup once every 10 seconds until the age of 97. Various attempts were made to stop the hiccups, including an operation, but nothing worked.
The year after the hiccups stopped, Charles Osborne died. At least he had the compensation of knowing that he was officially entered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the man with Longest Attack of Hiccups ever recorded.
Perhaps he hadn’t heard about popular remedies for the problem – some of which look very weird at first glance. However, it seems that everyone has their own personal favorite which they swear works for them.
So, we set our Life Daily team the task of sifting through the myriad of solutions that have been found effective in getting rid of hiccups.
These are our top ten:
1. Breathe Into a Paper Bag
This is a popular trick that many hiccup sufferers swear by. Take a brown paper bag, hold the opening around your mouth and – after sealing it tightly – blow in and out about 10 times. You can breathe fast or really hard but do it at your own level of comfort.
2. Drink Water From Opposite Side of a Cup
Fill a cup halfway with water and hold the cup right side up. Stand and bend over, while placing your mouth on the opposite side of the cup so the opening is around your chin. Drink as much of the water as you can and repeat until hiccups subside.
3. Simply Sip Water
Less complicated than number 2, and almost always works. Simply sip water from a glass continuously until for run out of breath (or water – whichever happens first). It’s the lack of breathing which is the trick – the water merely helps.
4. Swallow a Teaspoon of Sugar
Swallowing a teaspoon of sugar is another tried-and-tested trick to get rid of hiccups. It’s easier to swallow if you tilt your head back and use a sugar packet.
5. Hold Your Breath
This is a variation of number 3 – without the water! When you don’t have any sugar, or paper bags on hand, try holding your breath for 10/20 seconds. Repeat this exercise until the hiccups stop.
6. Get Scared
If sudden excitement is what caused you to get hiccups in the first place, you may need to get excited or scared again to get rid of them. This may be possible if you’re with friends, but how do you scare yourself if alone? The logic behind this idea is that getting scared causes you to constrict your diaphragm and disturbs the hiccup pattern.
7. Pull Out Your Tongue
Yes – just grab hold of your tongue and give it a tug. This will stimulate the vagus nerve and ease diaphragm spasms. Try to avoid setting off a gag reflex – curing hiccups by throwing up is not recommended.
8. Drink a Teaspoon of Vinegar
Drinking a teaspoon of vinegar or another sour juice has been found to cure some hiccup attacks. Some people even combine the sugar-vinegar remedy to make it taste better. This could well be an example of the cure being worse than the discomfort!
9. Eat a Tablespoon of Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is said to keep hiccups at bay. Peanut butter, and other sticky foods, work similarly to swallowing sugar because the action stimulates the vagus nerve, causing your diaphragm to constrict
10. Cough/Sneeze/Burp
Any one of these reactions can help get rid of hiccups. The thinking is that coughing, sneezing or burping causes the diaphragm to constrict and breaks the pattern of hiccups. While any one of these actions can occur naturally, it’s difficult – if not impossible – to do them on purpose; that’s why this idea is number 10 on the list.
We think that the best ways to get rid of hiccups are the simplest, so we recommend numbers 1 and 3 from our suggestions.
Do you agree – or do you have a favorite idea that we didn’t include? You can tell us easily just by using the comments feed below.
