Remember Jennifer Mee, the 15-year-old girl from St. Petersburg, Florida, who caught the world’s attention last month because her hiccups lasted for 5 weeks? She just stopped hiccupping on 1 st March 2007. If you think that is bad enough, get ready for this: Charles Osborne held the record in the Guiness Book of World Records for his 68-year-long hiccups. We all know hiccups are exhausting, so imagine hiccupping for more than an hour! Let’s find out why hiccups occur!

The hiccups culprit

Blame your diaphragm if you have gotten the hiccups! The diaphragm (pronounced as die -uh-fram) is a dome-shaped muscle at the bottom of your chest. It works like this: when you breathe in, it helps to pull air into your lungs, and when you breathe out, it pushes air out of your lungs. Sometimes, however, the diaphragm gets out of sorts and it pulls air down clumsily. This causes you to inhale suddenly and you end up with a hiccup fit!

Hiccups sometimes can occur when you have just eaten a large meal, consumed hot or spicy food, drank gassy drinks , or simply when you are excited or stressed out!

When it is more than just hiccups…

Hiccups usually ends after a few minutes and will go away as abruptly as they come. However, if your bout of hiccups lasts more than 48 hours and is affecting your daily routine, you ought to consult a doctor. Persistent hiccups could be symptoms of a/an lung tumour, pneumonia, kidney failure, stomach disorder, liver disease, intestine inflammation and even heart attack.

If yours is a case of normal hiccups…

The next time you get a hiccupping fit, give the following suggestions a try and see which ones work for you:

• Hold your breath for 10 seconds.

• Put sugar under your tongue .

• Drink a cold glass of water slowly.

• Get someone to startle you. Boo!

• Gently massage the roof of your mouth with a cotton bud for one minute.

• Breathe into a paper bag.

Facts about hiccups

The medical term for hiccups is Singultus.
Babies hiccup in the mother’s womb.