Boring Facts About Why We Hiccup to Fall Asleep To

In this calm and deliberately boring episode, you'll listen to hundreds of quiet facts about why we hiccup, the small, sudden reflex that happens deep in the chest and throat. We take a slow and unhurried look at what a hiccup actually is, since it begins with a quick twitch of the diaphragm, the large muscle beneath the lungs, followed a fraction of a second later by the snapping shut of the throat that makes the familiar "hic." Along the way, we cover how ordinary breathing works, the nerves that run the whole reflex, and the everyday things that set it off, from eating too fast and drinking fizzy drinks to swallowing air or feeling a sudden chill. We look gently at the many old home remedies people have tried for centuries, from holding the breath to sipping water backward to a sudden fright, and at why none of them can be trusted to work. There are many overlooked details, including why babies hiccup even before they are born, why cats and dogs hiccup too, why hiccups almost always stop on their own after a few minutes, and why, strangely, no one is quite sure what hiccups are actually for. Nothing here is dramatic, and nothing needs to be remembered. Tonight, as you listen, you can simply rest inside the thought that even the most ordinary subject contains more quiet details than anyone could ever notice at once.