You do it though you don't want to, you just don't seem to stop it on your own. This phenomena is called hiccups. You all have gotten that one ever lasting hiccup streak and have always wondered why you get it.
Hiccups are caused by involuntary contractions in the diaphragm. Diaphragm is the muscle that separates your chest from your abdomen and plays an important role in breathing. This involuntary contraction causes your vocal cords to close very briefly, which produces the characteristic sound of a hiccup.
Hiccups pass in a couple of minutes for everyone. If they keep coming and going, then they are most likely a result of your eating habits and digestive function.
To decrease hiccups, one needs to stimulate the Nasopharynx and the vagus nerve, which runs from the brain to the stomach. The following could decrease hiccups:
1) Drink a glass of water
2) Bite on a lime
3) Gargle with water
4) Pull hard on your tongue
Charles Osborne has the Guinness record for longest hiccups. It is an astonishing 68 years long!
