Scientists share hiccup cure with '100 per cent' success rate

They may only usually last a few minutes because of things like eating or drinking too quickly - but hiccups can be really annoying.

People try all sorts of things to get rid of them quickly, such as holding their breath for as long as possible, drinking water from the top side of a glass or even being scared by someone else to name a few.

But there's one method that's claimed to have a "100 per cent cure rate" - and it's quite simple.

Social media user Kat Woods said she found out about a scientific study and it's worked for her every single time.

Woods said it goes like this:

Step 1: Breathe completely out, emptying your lungs.

Step 2: Take a deep breath in and hold it for a few seconds.

Step 3: Without letting any air out, breathe in a little more air, then hold for a few seconds.

Step 4: Repeat step 3.

Speaking to The Atlantic, Ali Seifi, a neurointensivist at the University of Texas at San Antonio who's also an inventor and entrepreneur, said hiccups "can have different frequencies, but 10 times per minute is most common. I don't know how God created that, but most of the time they’re equally spaced."

There are a few different theories as to why we get hiccups at all, including speculation the reflex evolved to allow animals with both gills and lungs to push water over their gills to stop it from getting on their lungs when animals started coming out of the sea and living on dry land.

Also speaking to The Atlantic, Rob Dunn said: "The first air-breathing fish and amphibians extracted oxygen using gills when in the water and primitive lungs when on land and to do so, they had to be able to close the glottis, or entryway to the lungs, when underwater.

"Importantly, the entryway (or glottis) to the lungs could be closed. When underwater, the animals pushed water past their gills while simultaneously pushing the glottis down.

"We descendants of these animals were left with vestiges of their history, including the hiccup. In hiccupping, we use ancient muscles to quickly close the glottis while sucking in (albeit air, not water)."

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