The "Did You Know That Belching Might Be A Sport?" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Just had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and wasn't long before I had to burp.   Funny word, isn't it?  I can remember when I was young that my brother and I burped quite a bit.   Did it to annoy our parents.  Maybe you did the same thing.  So, what causes burping and is it really normal?  Burping, or belching as many call it, is the forcible removal or expelling of air, usually up the esophagus and through the mouth.  When there is air in the stomach, the ring valve that separates the esophagus and stomach relaxes.  If opened up, the air from the stomach comes back up into the esophagus and then is erupted out.  Normal belching can occur for many reasons, one of them being the process of eating.  We naturally swallow air when we swallow food.  

The larger the meal the more you may need to belch.  If your stomach couldn't vent, it would get very large and uncomfortable so the natural response to eating large meals is that the valve releases, allowing you to belch.  Happens also when you eat soup since you swallow air with each spoonful of soup.  Meals that are high in fat can make the bottom valve of the esophagus relax and allow air to come back up.  Meals such as a cheeseburger and fries or perhaps a big steak can make the valve relax.  For many of us, we tend to eat too quickly which can cause you to swallow more air and activate a belch.  Drinking carbonated beverages may result in belching out carbon dioxide.  But, it's not only eating that can cause belching.  It can be caused by stomach ulcers, gastroesopheal reflux disease, small intestinal bacteria overgrowth, asthma, lacose intolerance, distal hernia or an H. pylon bacterial infection.  So, how can you distinguish between normal burping and burping caused by a physical problem?  Well, if you also have other problems such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, trouble swallowing, weight loss or black stools, you may want to see your family doctor, or if you don't have a family doctor, you may want to head to a clinic to see a medical expert.  If you have chronic belching, such as perhaps 20 or more belches in a minute, this may be a behavioral condition and can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy.  Now, you might have to determine if you are belching or if you just have the hiccups.  Hiccups are contractions or spasms in the diaphragm.  The sudden contraction of the diaphragm causes air to be drawn into the back of the throat with a sudden closure of the vocal chords, thus causing the classic 'hit' sound.  Both burping and hiccups may be caused by eating or drinking too fast.  A study was done on volunteers and it was shown that the number of belches healthy participants in the study had in a 24-hour time span was 32.  I don't think I have belched 32 times in the past year let alone in the past 24 hours.  How about you?  I also read one unusual fact telling me that the longest burp on record was achieved by an Italian woman who burped for 1 minute, 13 seconds.  Some people need to find something better to do with their time than timing belches!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.