WHETHER it's due to stress, excitement or something we ate, we've all been racked by hiccups at some point or other.

The little spasms sometimes seem to go on for painfully long, leading you on a desperate quest to stop them.

You may have resorted to old wives tales that claim to get rid of hiccups, like having someone scare you.

Most won't really have any affect on your attack, which is caused by your diaphragm – the muscle below your lungs – contracting and jerking your windpipe closed to cause the 'hic' sound.

Things that might trigger hiccups include:

• eating and drinking too quickly, particularly gulping fizzy drinks
• over-eating
• heartburn
• stress
• sudden changes in air temperature
• over stretching your neck
• certain drugs, such as medicines to treat anxiety (benzodiazepines)
• alcohol

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The spams aren't something you can control but – in most cases – hiccups do just tend to go away on their own.

But if you're in a state of dread waiting for the next one to strike, there are a few easy remedies you can try out to get rid of them quick.

1. Cover your mouth

Try placing your hands over your nose and mouth but keep breathing normally, Medical Daily suggested.

What you're doing is giving yourself an extra dose of carbon monoxide, which can help cease your hiccups.

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2. Have something sweet

Swallowing a spoonful of sugar sounds like the kind of thing Mary Poppins would advise you to do.

But the graininess and the kick of sweetness could help stimulate your vagus nerve- a cranial nerve that's responsible for digestion, heart rate, breathing and reflex actions – according to a to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

This stimulation can actually interfere with the hiccup reflex, causing your diaphragm to stop seizing.

3. Plug your ears

Here's another seemingly silly method that can actually stimulate your vagus nerve.

Try shutting your ears for 20-25 seconds or folding over your earlobes to cover your ears.

Doing this can send a message to a message to relax the diaphragm through the vagus nerve.

4. Stick out your tongue

Sticking out your tongue can help you breathe more smoothly to calm your hiccups.

Harvard Medical School even recommends gently pulling on your tongue.

5. Breathe into a paper bag

If you have a small paper bag at hand, try breathing into it slowly.

It will have a similar effect as breathing into your hands, increasing the carbon dioxide in your blood, making your diaphragm contract more deeply to get more oxygen.

But you should stop if you feel dizzy.

6. Gulp down water

Try taking 10 sips of water one after the other, without stopping.

Gulping down quickly encourages rhythmic contractions of the oesophagus, which overrides the spasms of the diaphragm and saves you from hiccups, according to Medical Daily.

7. Suck on a lemon

If you have a lemon on hand, cut into it and suck on it to provide some relief from your spasms.

Doing this can again interrupt the hiccup reflex.

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8. Rub your neck

Harvard Medical School recommended stimulating the skin that covers the spinal nerves near the neck by tapping or rubbing the back of the neck.

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