Universal and annoying, everyone knows what hiccups feel like. Scientifically, it’s the involuntary contraction of the diaphragm and a closure of the vocal cords – causing the classic ‘hic’ sound we associate with hiccups. In layman’s terms, the muscle just beneath your lungs tenses and relaxes quickly, pushing air up against your voicebox. Why do you get hiccups? Though hiccups are a reflex, meaning something our body does that we can’t control, unlike sneezing and coughing, which help clear our airways, hiccups seem to have no useful purpose whatsoever. Once started, hiccups have a regular rhythm, and usually go away
The post Why Do Hiccups Happen? appeared first on Factual Facts.