It’s known that sneezing is a reflex to prevent dust or nose hairs or whatever from getting down into the lungs, but why do people and animals sometimes get hiccups? What function does that serve, and what causes them?
Also, bonus points for any random useful tips on how to make hiccups go away…
I never said it helped in any way, as a matter of fact the experience is absolutely miserable and painful when it happens that way. Not like hiccupping is a voluntary reflex ya know, just saying that having trapped gasses in my belly tends to trigger it sometimes.
When that happens to me, the best thing I can do to try to help is to lay down, and occasionally roll over on my left and right sides, until the gas finally finds it’s way out, usually via burping.
But yeah, these reflexes aren’t exactly voluntary.