100 % HIccup cure !

I read a post today where someone had hiccups for over an hour during a full Ironman. That would drive me nuts and could make it harder to eat/drink. In shorter races you might just suck it up, but for a longer race you might want to take the 30 ish seconds it takes to cure them.

You will need to sit down (in a safe place), can't do it standing or biking, (swimming you will need to stop and just float probaly, never tried it there) then close your eyes, try to center your thoughts on the most peaceful thing you can find to think about, breathe in slowly through your nose until your lungs will hold no more air, fully expanding your diaphram (diaphramtic breathing) and then breathe out very slowly through your mouth. We are talking like 5-10 seconds for inhale and 5-10 sec for exhale. This will cure hiccups if done correctly in 1-5 breaths. I have personally never had to go beyond the 3rd breath to cure them.

I know this is not earth shattering or major advice, but it is 100 percent effective and if it helps one person in a single race ever, well then its all good.

By the way, this technique is used as an anxiety reducing skill. So if you are having trouble falling asleep the night before a tri, having jitters on the beach before the swim or are feeling anxious at any point in time durring real life the same techniques is extremely effective. It is used with people who have anxiety attacks, agoraphobia, phobies, etc. and is the single most effective technique for reducing anxiety (aside from major tranquilizers).

Edited by Baowolf 2008-09-11 2:11 PM