Whatever the suggestion may be, people come up with a big bag of wacky cures for the hiccups. Why do these cures work — even sometimes? Because all the remedies have something to do with changing the pressure in your diaphragm — the source of hiccup woes.

During normal breathing, the diaphragm, a muscle that separates the chest and abdomen, stretches downward when you inhale and contracts upward when you inhale. When you hiccup, something makes your diaphragm spasm or contract involuntarily as it expands to draw in air. The tissue that closes off the trachea when you swallow, closes shut, causing the staccato sound.

So how do the old-time remedies work? If you drink water, the stomach distends and puts pressure on the diaphragm. Squeezing your thumb “unscrambles” the same nerves connected to the diaphragm. Sugar may stimulate the same nerves in the back of the throat, distracting the other nerves that control the diaphragm and the tissue that closes off the trachea. In fact, any distraction can help.

Whatever the remedy, usually, time takes care of the problem.