• Question: what happen if you hold your breath and swallow food?

    Asked by to Ben, Emily, Hattie, Jemma, Veronica on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Emily Hayward

      Emily Hayward answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      Interesting question Faizaan10!

      Usually when you swallow food there is a bit of skin which blocks your lungs and prevents any food ending up in your lungs rather than your stomach, this means holding your breath while you swallow shouldn’t be a problem. It can however lead to having hicups! If you want to read a fun article all about hicups there’s a great one here:

      http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/onlinestuff/snot/why_do_we_get_hiccups_and_how_do_you_stop_them.aspx

    • Photo: Jemma Rowlandson

      Jemma Rowlandson answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      Hey!

      Good question, but you can’t actually swallow and breathe at the same time. As Emily said this is because of the flap at the top of your wind-pipe called the ‘pharynx’. It’s actually pretty clever, when you swallow the flap moves to cover your wind-pipe to prevent you breathing in your dinner.

      Occasionally something happens and the flap doesn’t move fast enough so food ends up in your wind-pipe. This is what happens when you choke on a bit of food or drink. The coughing is your body’s way of getting it out of your wind-pipe, so you can breathe properly.

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