My Amazing Body 3-minute video · ages 4-8 · free coloring page
Why do I hiccup?
You are sitting quietly, and suddenly: hic! Then again: hic! And you just cannot stop. What is a hiccup, and how does it happen?
3 min
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Free coloring page
The scene from the video as a coloring page, plus the three-sentence answer, the experiment, and a QR code back to this page. One sheet, US Letter, black and white.
The answer in three parts
Why?
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Under your lungs is a wide, flat muscle shaped like a dome, called the diaphragm.
When you breathe in, it pulls down and gets flat, and air rushes into your lungs. When you breathe out, it goes back up. Down, up. Down, up. Nice and smooth.
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But once in a while, it twitches and jerks down, fast and hard.
That sudden jerk makes you suck in air, very quickly. It is a tiny gasp that you did not plan at all.
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Then a little gate snaps shut. Hic!
At the top of your windpipe there is a little gate, where your voice is made. Just after the jerk, that gate snaps shut. The rushing air bumps into the closed gate, and that makes the sound.
For grown-ups: Hiccups nearly always stop by themselves in a few minutes. Some people take slow, deep breaths or sip some cold water; sometimes that seems to help, and sometimes it does not.
What can set off hiccups?
- Eating too fast
- A very full tummy
- A fizzy drink
- Laughing really hard
And sometimes, it just happens.
A tiny experiment
Try it!
Feel your breathing muscle
You need: just your hand
- Put one hand on your tummy, just below your ribs.
- Breathe in slowly, and feel your tummy push out. That is your diaphragm moving down!
- Now breathe out, and feel it go back in.
- Next time you have hiccups, put your hand there and feel the little jumps.
Did you know?
Here is a real puzzle. Scientists know how a hiccup happens. But they are still not sure why our bodies hiccup at all. Maybe one day, you will find the answer!
Even babies hiccup, before they are born!
Your guide in this video
I'm Dia. That is short for diaphragm, the muscle that helps you breathe!
Dia is a coral-pink, dome-shaped muscle. Dia sits right under your lungs, like the floor of your chest.
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