Hi there! Have you ever wondered if animals get hiccups like we do? It’s a fun question to think about! Let’s explore what hiccups are and why they happen.
Hiccups are those funny sounds that come out of your mouth when you least expect them. They can be a bit annoying, especially when you’re trying to talk or eat. But why do we get them?
Sometimes, hiccups happen when we eat or drink too quickly. Other times, they just seem to pop up for no reason at all! People have all sorts of tricks to try and stop hiccups. Some people hold their breath, while others might drink a glass of water. Have you ever tried any of these tricks?
Scientists have discovered that hiccups are related to a muscle in our body called the diaphragm. This muscle is located at the bottom of your chest and helps you breathe. When you breathe in, your diaphragm moves down, and when you breathe out, it moves up.
Normally, you can control your diaphragm when you breathe. But sometimes, it acts on its own and moves suddenly. This quick movement pushes air out of your lungs and makes that “hic” sound. It’s like your diaphragm is playing a little trick on you!
Here’s the big mystery: no one really knows why our diaphragm does this! Scientists and doctors are still trying to figure it out. Isn’t that interesting? Even with all our knowledge, some things remain a mystery.
Did you know that a man named Charles Osborne had hiccups for nearly 68 years? That’s a long time to have the hiccups!
There are so many questions and mysteries in the world. Keep asking questions and stay curious! Who knows what you’ll discover next?
Hiccup Experiment: Try to create a hiccup! Ask an adult to help you eat or drink something quickly, like a fizzy drink or a spoonful of peanut butter. Pay attention to how your body feels and what happens. Can you feel your diaphragm moving? Share your experience with your classmates and see if anyone else can make themselves hiccup too!
Diaphragm Discovery: Take a deep breath in and then slowly let it out. Place your hand on your chest and feel how your diaphragm moves. Now, try to breathe in and out quickly like you’re pretending to be a panting dog. Notice how your diaphragm moves differently. Draw a picture of what you think your diaphragm looks like when you breathe in and out.
Animal Hiccup Hunt: Go on a little research adventure! Ask your family or use a safe online resource to find out if any animals get hiccups. Do dogs, cats, or even elephants get hiccups? Write down what you discover and share it with your class. You might be surprised by what you find!
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hi, it’s Doug. Hiccups—everyone gets them, but I started to wonder, do animals ever get hiccups? Well, see for yourself; check out these video clips.
Someone named Dhara has a question about hiccups. Let’s give her a call now.
– Hi Doug.
– Hi Dhara.
– I have a question for you: why do we get hiccups?
– That’s a great question. Hiccups can be annoying and kind of strange, right? We get used to the idea of hiccups, but think about it. If you were talking to someone and suddenly said a random word, like “popsicles,” it would be pretty odd. What’s frustrating about hiccups is that the sound just comes out of you unexpectedly. You have no control over it.
You’ve probably noticed that sometimes hiccups happen after eating or drinking too quickly, but sometimes they seem to happen for no reason at all. Everyone seems to have a favorite trick they use to try to stop hiccups. One person I talked to said she does a handstand to stop them, and it works for her every time. Have you ever tried to stop hiccups? What’s something you’ve tried or heard about? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
Okay, you ready? One of the most surprising things about hiccups is that there’s no one proven way to stop them. But why do they even happen? What is going on in your body when you get hiccups? The answer to this wasn’t obvious until we had ways to study what’s happening inside our bodies, like X-ray machines and MRIs.
It turns out that hiccups have to do with a muscle in your body. When you think of muscles, you might think of the ones in your arms, but there’s a muscle located in a surprising place: the bottom of your chest. It’s called the diaphragm. It’s a large muscle that forms a dividing wall between your chest and your abdomen.
What does this muscle do? Muscles are things you can flex. You can cause them to tighten up or pull. You flex your muscles all the time, like when you lift something with your arms. In order to lift that thing, you have to flex your arm muscles. Like all muscles, your diaphragm is something you can flex too, but flexing your diaphragm isn’t for lifting things.
Watch what happens when you flex your diaphragm. Here I’ve made a little model of the human chest. Here’s the chest itself, and inside are your lungs. This straw represents your throat. Watch as I flex this diaphragm. You see that? Look at what the lungs are doing. Flexing your diaphragm causes your lungs to expand and contract. This is how we breathe. Our lungs need us to constantly inhale new air and exhale old air. But the lungs by themselves can’t do this; that’s what our diaphragm is for.
Using special tools like MRI machines and X-rays, scientists discovered what happens when we get hiccups. It turns out that most of the time, you can control your diaphragm muscle and decide when to breathe in or out. But sometimes, the muscle goes out of control and suddenly flexes on its own. Normally, when you breathe, the muscle flexes and relaxes slowly. But when you get hiccups, the diaphragm behaves differently. It flexes suddenly, forcing air out of your lungs, which rushes through your throat and creates that familiar hic sound.
Why would your diaphragm do this? That’s perhaps the most interesting part about hiccups: nobody knows. Hiccups are truly a mystery. No one, not even scientists or doctors, has figured out why the diaphragm has these sudden movements or how to stop them. Luckily, for most of us, hiccups stop after a little while.
However, one man is not so lucky. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Charles Osborne from Iowa is said to have had hiccups for nearly 68 years.
That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Dhara, for asking it. Now for the next episode, I reached into my question box and chose three questions submitted to me that I’m thinking about answering. When this video ends, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: how do binoculars work? How were the first roads made? Or who invented football? So submit your vote when the video’s over. I want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week.
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Let me know if you need any further modifications!
