"How to Stop Hiccups Quickly: Six Effective Methods"

Quick Methods to Stop Hiccups

Hiccups can be annoying, especially when they persist. What are some effective ways to quickly stop them? Here are some tips for you:

1. Drink Water and Bend Over

Take a few sips of warm water, swallow slowly, and then bend over at a 90-degree angle for 10-15 seconds. As the stomach is close to the diaphragm, the warm water can warm the diaphragm from the inside. Additionally, bending over massages the diaphragm, helping to relieve diaphragm spasms and stop hiccups.

2. Deep Breathing

If hiccups occur during eating, pause and take a few deep breaths. This often stops hiccups quickly. For frequent hiccups, press the "Shaoshang" acupoint on both sides of the thumb with your finger or ask someone else to do it. The Shaoshang point is located on the radial side of the base of the thumbnail, approximately 0.6cm from the nail edge, at the intersection of black and white skin. Apply firm pressure to cause a noticeable pain. You can alternate pressing this point yourself.

3. Tongue Stretching

Place a clean gauze pad on your tongue and pinch the tongue with your fingers, stretching it outward. You may feel gas rising in your abdomen, naturally eliminating the hiccups.

4. Breath Holding

Hold your breath for 30-45 seconds directly, or use a clean chopstick to gently stimulate the back 1/3 of the palate. This will immediately stop hiccups as stimulating the palate triggers a pharyngeal reflex, causing you to suddenly hold your breath and increase carbon dioxide concentration in the airways, disrupting the neural reflexes that cause hiccups. However, people with poor cardiopulmonary function should use this method with caution.

5. Startling Method

Unexpectedly tapping on the back of the person with hiccups can also stop them. As a strong emotional stimulus, startling can transmit through the cortex to the subcortical centers, inhibiting diaphragm spasms. However, this method should be used with caution by individuals with hypertension or heart disease.

6. Massage

To effectively treat hiccups, take a thin stick and wrap one end with cotton (or use the thin end of a bamboo chopstick wrapped with cotton if no stick is available). Place the soft end on the midline of the soft palate, just behind the intersection of the hard and soft palate. Massaging this area for about a minute can effectively control hiccups.

Reasons for Sudden Hiccups

1. Do you drink mineral water, juice, or other beverages during dinner? Drinking excessive amounts can fill the stomach, diluting digestive juices. Lower concentrations of digestive juices can worsen hiccups.
2. Do you enjoy carbonated drinks? The compressed gas that escapes from champagne bottles or soda cans can also bubble up in your digestive system with equal force.
3. Have you taken "fizzy" headache tablets? Some tablets, like aspirin, produce carbon dioxide gas when dissolved in water, which can trigger hiccups.
4. Are you feeling anxious? When under high stress, your body's oxygen demand increases, causing you to inhale more air through your mouth, like a fish, which can lead to hiccups.
5. Are you eating too fast? Eating hurriedly at fast-food restaurants often leads to hiccups as you inhale a lot of air.
6. Have you just drunk hot coffee or tea? Scientists at the University of Salt Lake City have proven that steam from hot soup or beverages can be inhaled along with a large amount of air, and blowing to cool hot items quickly can also result in inhaling a lot of air.