Is It Normal to Get Hiccups After Drinking Beer?

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You’re out with friends, you have a few drinks and suddenly you start hiccuping like an overexcited child.

It’s not exactly a pleasant experience, but is it normal to get hiccups after drinking alcohol?

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Yes, it’s normal and almost always harmless. Drunk hiccups last a few minutes and are usually a sign that you’ve drunk too fast or too much, especially fizzy drinks like beer.

Dr. Jeremy Rezmovitz, a family physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, explained it this way to HuffPost Canada in November 2018.

Most of the time, hiccups are harmless. There’s nothing unusual or dangerous about having “drunk hiccups”, but they can be a sign that you’ve already had more than you should.

Why Does Beer Cause Hiccups?

There are two main reasons why drinking can cause hiccups, and both are related to the way the body digests alcohol.

If it’s a carbonated drink, such as beer or champagne, the gas will expand in the stomach.

That expansion can irritate the diaphragm, the C-shaped muscle that sits above and around the stomach.

When the diaphragm contracts involuntarily, it causes hiccups.

Then there is the acid reflux explanation. Alcohol reduces the muscle tone of the lower esophageal sphincter, the muscular ring of the esophagus that leads into the stomach.

As it loses strength, that sphincter can let the stomach contents flow back up into the esophagus.

If the esophagus is irritated, it can in turn irritate the diaphragm, which, once again, causes hiccups, Rezmovitz explains.

Some doctors think hiccups are related to brain chemistry, but Rezmovitz says that theory is harder to understand and that he isn’t sure it’s true.

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It is possible that alcohol acts as a trigger on the vagus nerve, which connects the brain to various organs, including the diaphragm.

When Are Hiccups a Reason to See a Doctor?

There are also other conditions that cause hiccups, especially certain disorders of the stomach or esophagus.

Rezmovitz also points out that some people are genetically predisposed to getting hiccups more often.

The UK National Health Service (NHS) advises seeing a doctor if hiccups last more than 48 hours or interfere with daily life. Below that threshold, hiccups after drinking go away on their own in the vast majority of cases.

How to Avoid Hiccups When Drinking Beer

Once the hiccups start, there isn’t much you can do about them, but there are several things worth trying to get hiccups less often.

The most effective approach is to drink more slowly and alternate each beer with a glass of water. Pouring the beer into a glass instead of drinking it from the bottle helps release some of the gas before it reaches your stomach.

Home remedies, such as holding your breath or drinking cold water, may help some people, although the NHS warns there is no evidence they work for everyone. And if hiccups appear every time you drink, it is worth looking at how much you drink, something that knowing how to stop drinking beer or cut back can help with, and avoiding combinations such as alcohol and tobacco, which also irritate the esophagus.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How Can You Quickly Stop Hiccups Caused by Alcohol?

To stop the diaphragm spasms brought on by drinking alcohol, it is advisable to stimulate the vagus nerve or raise the level of carbon dioxide in the blood. Maneuvers such as holding your breath for 15 to 20 seconds, drinking a glass of cold water in continuous sips without pausing to breathe, or exhaling forcefully with your mouth and nose closed (the Valsalva maneuver) help reset the diaphragm’s neuromuscular pattern.

2. Which Foods or Drinks Make Hiccups Worse When Drinking Beer?

Combining alcohol with heavily seasoned, spicy, acidic or high-fat foods makes the problem significantly worse. These foods increase stomach acid production and relax the lower esophageal sphincter even further, which intensifies gastroesophageal reflux and the resulting irritation of the nerve endings in the diaphragm.

3. Why Does Mixing Alcohol with Energy Drinks or Sugary Sodas Make Hiccups More Likely?

Because they add even more gas to what the beer already contains. The carbonation of the soda or energy drink distends the stomach further, and that pressure on the diaphragm is the most common cause of hiccups when drinking. Drinking these mixes quickly also makes you swallow more air.

4. When Are Hiccups After Drinking Alcohol Considered Dangerous?

Hiccups caused by drinking become a clinical warning sign if they continue uninterrupted for more than 48 hours (persistent or intractable hiccups) or if they come with chest pain, difficulty swallowing food, shortness of breath or vomiting blood. In these cases they may point to an underlying gastrointestinal condition, damage to the esophagus or neurological disorders that require urgent medical evaluation.

5. What Preventive Measures Help Avoid Hiccups When Drinking Beer or Cocktails?

To prevent them, it helps to drink slowly so you don’t swallow too much air (aerophagia), avoid drinking straight from the bottle or through straws, alternate each drink with a glass of still water and never drink alcohol on a completely empty stomach. Keeping an upright posture after eating or drinking also reduces direct gastric pressure on the diaphragm.