Why do people get hiccups? What causes them?
Hiccups are a result of spasms of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is the dome-shaped respiratory muscle seperating the chest from the abdomen. It aids in breathing by moving up and down, sending air in and out of the lungs. Find a picture to get a better idea of how this works. Hiccups are an involuntary (meaning we don’t make them happen or continue to happen, they do so on their own, just like breathing and our heart beating are involuntary) rapid closing of the vocal cord that causes the sound you hear, “hiccup!” Common causes of hiccups include eating too fast, indigestion and laughing a lot, thereby inhaling and exhaling air irratically.
