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 read an explanation for that, which was that hiccupping is the default mode for the muscles involved, and there’s a part of the brain that suppresses it. The 30-year hiccupper had damage to that part of the brain, so they started and never stopped.