WHY WE GET THE HICCUPS
What happens in the body when you get those annoying hiccups? Hiccups are spasms or sudden muscle contractions of the diaphragm that you can't control. The diaphragm is a large, strong sheet of muscle between the chest and the abdomen. When you are breathing normally, the diaphragm tightens and relaxes to help pull air in and push it out. But when organs near your diaphragm are irritated, they cause the diaphragm to contract suddenly as air comes in.
As you are breathing in, a little flap of tissue called the epiglottis is doing its job of closing off the air passage to your lungs. So when the air hits this closed passage, you make that "hiccup" sound. When you have the hiccups, they may happen two or three times a minute, or even tow or three times a second! They will usually go away if you breathe deeply, hold your breath or even breathe into a paper bag.