Yoga for Hiccups

by Baxter

Water Glass by Jean-Baptise-Simeon Chardin

 A short while back I shared with you a list of common minor problems that yoga can help with. If I did not state it then, that list was not meant to be a complete by any means. In fact, as soon as I finished the list, I started getting emails and suggestions in class about problems I had not included. One of those was the common and quite annoying problem of hiccups. In all likelihood, all of us have had at least one bout, if not 50, of hiccups in our lifetimes. And although they usually resolve within a few minutes, for some of us they can linger on for longer periods of time, for hours or even days. They can range for mild to violent in intensity. And for a rare few, hiccups can be a chronic, disruptive event that can start to erode their quality of life, by affecting eating, sleeping, speech, and even wound healing after surgery.

According to the Mayo Clinic, hiccups are:

"involuntary contractions of the diaphragm — the muscle that separates your chest from your abdomen and plays an important role in breathing. Each contraction is followed by a sudden closure of your vocal cords, which produces the characteristic "hic" sound. Hiccups may result from a large meal, alcoholic beverages or sudden excitement. In some cases, hiccups may be a sign of an underlying medical condition.”

So, if you have hiccups that last for more than 48 hours, I recommend you get evaluated by your doctor to rule out more serious causes of hiccups. Common hiccups that last less than 48 hours have the following triggers:

• Drinking carbonated beverages
• Drinking too much alcohol
• Eating too much
• Excitement or emotional stress
• Sudden temperature changes
• Swallowing air with chewing gum or sucking on candy

More serious causes of hiccups can include nerve irritation to the vagus or phrenic nerves (a common cause of this is gastroesophageal reflux), central nervous system damage (as in stroke, MS, or traumatic brain injury, to name few causes), and metabolic disorders and drugs (like alcoholism, diabetes, or steroids). Several interesting risk factors that yoga could influence are anxiety, stress, and excitement, which have been associated with some cases of short-term and long-term hiccups.

Today, I’m interested in addressing those with the less serious forms of hiccups, or those who have longer bouts of hiccups but who have ruled out a more serious underlying cause.

Personally, I’ve noticed that I have at least one fairly predictable trigger for getting a bout of hiccups: spicy food! This is a bit of problem, as I like to eat spicy foods, but really don’t enjoy the negative possibility of a bout of hiccups, thank you very much! Since I will go ahead and indulge in the hot stuff at least a few times a week, I have had plenty of practice over the years trying the commonly suggested techniques of trying to short circuit the hiccups: drinking a glass of water backwards, holding my breath for a certain amount of time, doing a standing forward bend, having someone try to scare me, and so on, with very limited effect. However, once I started practicing yoga and became more aware of my breath and my ability to control the breath (see Pranayama: A Powerful Key to Your Nervous System), I started experimenting with that when I would get the hiccups. The theory on what causes hiccups is a presumed rhythmic spasm of the big breathing muscle, the diaphragm. So my theory on relieving that spasm was trying a balancing breath or calming breath pattern to see what would happen, especially as it can influence the vagus nerve. Turns out for me, if I can slow my breath down to a 2 second inhale, followed by a 2 second exhale, followed by a gentle 1 second pause, I can usually resolve the hiccups in 3-4 breath cycles! Pretty nifty!

But I also wondered if there has been any research on yoga for hiccups, so I did a web search. Unfortunately, no formal studies have been done to date. However, I did come across two other yoga posts by yoga bloggers who had found two other techniques that seemed to help. These, of course, are merely anecdotal, but are simple enough that you could give them a spin if you find yourself uncomfortable during your next bout of hiccups. The first, in Dakini's How to cure hiccups with yoga, is to utilize the lower belly lock, known as Uddiyana Bandha, when hiccupping. Lola Rephann suggested practicing engaging the lower belly muscles in towards the spine and scooping the muscles up towards the diaphragm on your exhale, and releasing the lock on your inhale, doing it a few times so you are practiced when you actually start hiccupping. She theorized that the pressure upwards toward the spasming diaphragm might help to relax the diaphragm and release the spasm. She also would hold the breath out for a few beats at the end of the exhale with the lock in place. 

In the second post, Cure for Hiccups, Kris found engaging the chin lock, Jalandhara Bandha, helpful in short-circuiting her bouts of hiccups. Sitting or standing in good postural alignment, tip your chin towards the sternum and hold it there in place for several rounds of breath. This person’s theory is that Jalandhara Bandha stimulates the vagal nerve, which could relax the diaphragm and relieve the spasms that way.

Finally, I came across an article Has science solved the mystery of the hiccup? in the Guardian that reports on a case of woman with intractable hiccups who responded to learning “measured breaths” as a biofeedback technique that worked quite effectively in stopping her debilitating hiccups—sounds like pranayama to me! Pass the hot sauce, please!

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