Hiccup is an involuntary contraction of the diaphragm (it is the sheet that separates the abdominal cavity form the lung cavity), the dome shaped muscle that rests beneath your lungs, diaphragm helps in the breathing process. If you irritate the nerves that govern the movement of this muscle, you're likely to bring on hiccups. Unfortunately, it's very easy to irritate these nerves-everything from food to stress can set them off.

How Hiccup happen? Normally as your lung take in air, your diaphragm function smoothly, allowing the column of air to pass unimpeded through the voice box. But when your diaphragm spazzes out (freak out), the cords and voice box snap shut. The column of air, now denied entrance to the voice box, this causes the telltale noise. Usually the diaphragm calms down fairly soon on its own, and hiccups disappear. (Hiccups that persist for more than a day or two should be reported to your doctor.)

Causes of Hiccup: The causes are not really known. But it is believed that it is cause by abnormal irritation of the phrenic nerve, a nerve that controls the diaphragm. It is thought that hiccups can be produced through eating very fast or by swallowing too much air while eating.

Recommended Treatments: There are many remedies to fight this disorder; nevertheless, the results will vary in different cases. Remedies that you can try to stop hiccups:

• Take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds, release the air using your mouth.
• Compress your chest by pulling your knees up to your chest and leaning forward.
• Fill a glass with water and put in a metal utensil. Let the handle of the utensil rest against your temple as you sip the water slowly.
• Another tried-and-true method to stop hiccup is the tongue yank. Open wide, stick your tongue out, and pull on it.
• You can also soak a lemon wedge in bitters and suck on it, rind and all.