• Question: Is it important to hiccup? Or to laugh?

    Asked by wizzyg12 to Claire, Matt, Rob, Sam on 26 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by raniahxoxo.
    • Photo: Matthew Pankhurst

      Matthew Pankhurst answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Hiccupping I’m not so sure about – but laughing is really good for you! It releases something called “endorphins” which are the chemicals that give you the feeling of happiness – and happiness is healthy 🙂
      check this out:
      http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-laughter-may-be-the-best-pain-medicine

    • Photo: Sam Geen

      Sam Geen answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      There are a couple of answers as to why hiccups exist, although no-one is 100% sure. One is that it’s left over from when we were amphibians and had to deal with having both gills and lungs. Another is that it helps baby mammals burp and stop air building up in the stomach. There are a whole bunch of reasons why people hiccup, but none of them are 100% essential to us.

      Laughing is important as people are a social species. Laughing together helps groups of people become closer to each other, and to defuse tension between strangers. Also, as Matt said, it’s important to be happy! Science can be too serious sometimes, so it’s good to have fun too.

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