What is the point of a Hiccup?

[Koosh]

I mean most the other bodily functions have a purpose behind them... Vomiting is a reflex against potential poison, Sneezing and Coughing clear the airway, but what do Hiccups do?

[markoger]

There is no known purpose for a hiccup. it happens when the diaphram gets irritated., which can happen a bunch of different ways. eating or drinking too fast...etc.

[Hasty8]

Although hiccups have engaged the attention of philosophers at least since the time of Plato, there was no reason to suspect their physiologic function until the function of the LM was known. The solution to one mystery was the key to another. The abrupt diaphragmatic downstroke of a hiccup generates the same sphincter-opening vector forces as does a contraction of the LM. A hiccup, therefore, rather than being a useless biological quirk at best and a nuisance at worst, is actually a useful physiologic mechanism. It performs the identical sphincter-opening function of LMC in eructation of gas. In addition, the associated glottic closure prevents aspiration should liquid as well as gas escape the stomach.

Hiccups are also useful in another sense - for the purposes of this monograph. Unless the reader has access to a fluoroscope and a ready supply of subjects, it is difficult for him/her to be totally convinced that it is vector resolution of the upward force of LMC that opens the sphincter. With hiccups, however, the reader can be self-convinced if a few days - a week at most - that a mechanically equivalent down stroke of the diaphragm will do the same thing.

What that means exactly I have no idea!

Taken from The Longitudinal Muscle in Esophageal Disease

[Alpha]

WEll.. a sphincter is the ring inside your bumhole. Its also the rings in your throat that help you swallow.

[Brak]

WEll.. a sphincter is the ring inside your bumhole. Its also the rings in your throat that help you swallow.

and there is a sphincter at the end of your stomach connected to your intestines, im pretty sure thats the one theyre talking about

[PissedGodzilla]

a sphincter is a knot of muscles that vaguely look like a small donut. what is interesting about them is, when the muscle contracts, it actually opens up the hole, instead of closing it tighter, like most people believe, this applies to the internal sphioncters that are involuntary only.

<--- scientist

[fire1811]

WEll.. a sphincter is the ring inside your bumhole. Its also the rings in your throat that help you swallow.

and some sphincter has a sig that is way to big

[Alpha]

Is there a size (in kb) limit? A mod told me to shorten it so I removed some text and a larger image. Dang 56Kers.

[fire1811]

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72174

[Mango]

Hiccups are actually designed to clear your airway from the INSIDE. It is a sudden compression in the area around your diaphram, the ligamentus band under your lungs that allows you to pump your lungs so they take in and expell air. Although the cause of a hiccup has yet to be found (there are many factors that contribute) thier purpose is quite clear. The body has many reactions that you cannot control (part of the somatic nervous system) that are designed to save your life.

I personally hate hiccups but when your drunk they are pretty amusing.

[scpaintballer01]

well the french say that: Scientists believe they may be able to explain why people hiccup.
Researchers in France have suggested that it may be linked to evolution and the fact that our ancient ancestors lived in the sea.

They believe it may be a throwback to a time when our ancestors had gills to help them breathe.


source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2730251.stm

the americans say: Tadpoles take blame for human hiccups

Hiccups are sudden contractions of the muscles we use to breathe in. Just after the muscles start to move, the glottis shuts off the windpipe, producing the characteristic "hic" sound. Surprisingly, ultrasound scans reveal that babies in the womb start hiccuping after two months, before any breathing movements appear.

That suggests that hiccups in adults are just the remnant of some primitive reflex, which occur only when this brain circuit is accidentally triggered. Yet the purpose of hiccups during pregnancy remains unclear.

But there is one group of animals in which the peculiar combination of the contraction of these muscles and the closure of the glottis does serve a clear purpose: primitive air breathers that still possess gills, such as lungfish, gar and many amphibians. These animals push water across their gills by squeezing their mouth cavity while closing the glottis to stop water getting into the lungs.

source: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993355

and my doctor says that its an inbalance in the air pressure in our lungs....so i see it as one lung is like 100 psi and the other at 50...the 100 has to balance itsslef out to 50 or make a compromise...so the hicup is a way to release the pressure.....

whatever works for me though.