How to induce a belch?

For those who do not have certain conditions or structural issues that make burping difficult, the following methods can help trigger burping.

If you have a medical condition or have had surgery on the upper part of your digestive tract, talk to your healthcare provider if you’re having difficulty burping. Do not try the following methods before talking to them

When triggered, burping can bring about relaxation and make a person feel better quickly.

Soda, beer, and other carbonated beverages are bubbly and gassy. Drinking any carbonated beverage causes gas buildup in the stomach, triggers a burp, and relieves abdominal pain.

Sipping the beverage is not enough. It is important to drink a large amount quickly to force swallowing of more air and increase the chance of a burp.

Movement can put pressure on the air in the stomach and force it upward, potentially causing a person to burp. If a person is sitting, they should stand. If they are standing, they should sit. Lying down and quickly standing up is another option.

Other times, more action is needed. Walking, jogging, jumping up and down, or stretching may push air out of the stomach.

Eating gas-promoting foods can help build up gas pressure in the stomach, resulting in a burp after consumption. Foods that may promote belching include:

Chewable calcium carbonate supplements, such as Tums and Rolaids, are designed to relieve acid ingestion. Burping is an unexpected side effect of antacids.

Antacids are available for purchase over the counter or online.

Swallowing air is another way to induce a burp, and it is easy to do. Exhale until the lungs are empty. Then breathe in deeply and hold for as long as possible. Exhale and inhale again, and swallow the air.

Drinking a glass of water or pinching the nose can make this even easier.

Burping is also known as belching. It involves the release of gas from the digestive tract to the mouth. Burps occur when air is swallowed while eating or drinking and is then expelled.

The air that is released is a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen.

Not being able to burp happens when the upper esophageal sphincter temporarily loses its ability to release air.

The upper esophageal sphincter is a muscular valve surrounding the upper part of the esophagus (food pipe) just below the throat passage.

The sphincter muscle relaxes during swallowing, but the rest of the time, it contracts. When a person burps, the sphincter muscle needs to relax momentarily to allow air to escape.

It is important for the sphincter muscle to let go downwards for swallowing. It is also important that the sphincter muscle releases air upwards during burping.

Not being able to burp can make a person feel miserable. It may feel as if an air bubble is sitting at the sphincter muscle with no place to go. The inability to burp may be painful, and cause abdominal pain and bloating.

When triggered, burping can bring about relaxation and make a person feel better quickly.

Soda, beer, and other carbonated beverages are bubbly and gassy. Drinking any carbonated beverage causes gas buildup in the stomach, triggers a burp, and relieves abdominal pain.

Sipping the beverage is not enough. It is important to drink a large amount quickly to force swallowing of more air and increase the chance of a burp.

Movement can put pressure on the air in the stomach and force it upward, potentially causing a person to burp. If a person is sitting, they should stand. If they are standing, they should sit. Lying down and quickly standing up is another option.

Other times, more action is needed. Walking, jogging, jumping up and down, or stretching may push air out of the stomach.

Eating gas-promoting foods can help build up gas pressure in the stomach, resulting in a burp after consumption. Foods that may promote belching include:

Chewable calcium carbonate supplements, such as Tums and Rolaids, are designed to relieve acid ingestion. Burping is an unexpected side effect of antacids.

Antacids are available for purchase over the counter or online.Mixing some liquorice root powder or ginger in hot water and drinking

Forcing air into your throat is one way to get the sphincter muscle to contract.

First, suck in air into the mouth to the point of expanding the jaws and throat. A person should keep sucking air this way until an air bubble forms in the throat.

The next step is to block the mouth with the tongue by touching the top of the month with the tongue. Next, release the air by slowly lowering the tongue and parting lips.

Swallowing air is another way to induce a burp, and it is easy to do. Exhale until the lungs are empty. Then breathe in deeply and hold for as long as possible. Exhale and inhale again, and swallow the air.

Drinking a glass of water or pinching the nose can make this even easier.

Triggering the gag reflex can force a burp, but it should be considered as a last resort. A person can trigger a burp by touching the back of their mouth with a clean finger. The touch should be light and only enough to release air upwards.

The goal is only to burp, not to vomit. Too much force can cause vomiting, so it is important to be gentle.

Certain home remedies for relieving trapped gas work better for some people than others. You may have to experiment to see what works best and fastest for you. Most of the evidence behind these home remedies is anecdotal.

Here are some quick ways to expel trapped gas, either by burping or passing gas.

Walk around or exercise. Movement may help you expel the gas.

Try gently massaging the painful spot, which can stimulate gas to move downward and out of the body. In particular, using the “I LOV U” technique may be helpful.

This involves making circular massage movements on your abdominal area in the shape of the letters I, L, U, and O in the direction your bowel movements pass through the colon and small intestine.

Yoga may help your body relax to aid the passing of gas.

Here’s a pose to start with:

Certain yoga poses may work better than others.

Drink noncarbonated liquids. Warm water or herbal tea helps some people. Try peppermint, ginger, or chamomile tea.

Use prepared teabags, or make your own herbal tea by steeping ginger root, peppermint leaves, or dried chamomile.

A traditional Persian remedy advises mixing 10 grams (g) each of ground cumin and fennel with 5 g of ground anise and steeping them in a cup of boiling water for 20 minutes.

Natural kitchen remedies for gas include:

Mix one of these ground herbs or seeds into a glass of warm water and drink.

Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in a glass of water and drink it.

Be careful not to use more than 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Too much baking soda taken when you have a full stomach could lead to a stomach rupture.

It’s none of our business why you’re here, but you’ve come to the right place. Whether it’s constant bloating or a cocky nephew that bedevils you, we’ve got you covered. So strap in and crack open your favourite carbonated beverage, because by the end of this article you’ll be letting out burps that’ll put Barney Gumble to shame.

But first, in order to effectively induce burping, it’s crucial to understand how and why we burp. So grab your exercise book and meet us in the lab for some Burping 101.

Burping, also known as belching, is the body’s way of getting rid of excess gas from the upper digestive tract also known as your upper esophageal sphincter (there’s a whole other mechanism for expelling excess gas from the lower digestive tract, but that’s for another article).

You see, when we eat or drink, we tend to swallow air in the process. For each swallow, anywhere between 8ml and 32ml of air enters the stomach via the oesophagus (a tube of muscle connecting your throat to your stomach, a.k.a your ‘food pipe’). That’s like throwing back a shot of air each time you swallow, in what must be the world’s least fun drinking game.

This process of swallowing air can lead to a buildup of excess gas in the stomach, creating pressure within your digestive system and leading to excessive gastric distention, or what yogurt adverts like to call bloating. You might recognise this as a feeling of abdominal discomfort or even abdominal pain, a sensation that can quickly make a person feel miserable if it goes ignored.

Thankfully, to give you some relief and head off your stomach’s transformation into a beach ball, your body releases this gas pressure through a process of air reflux which we know as ‘burping’ – or if you want to use the medical terminology, *dons monocle* eructation.

(Fun fact: the word eructation is derived from the Latin verb eructare meaning ‘to belch forth’. The related term for a burp is a ructus – compare with modern Italian rutto and une rot in French. Eructation is also used to refer to volcanic eruptions.)

Tl;dr burps exist to reduce gas and thereby any associated gas discomfort.

Burping takes place when excess air inside in your stomach leads to an increase in gastric volume (that is, your belly expands), setting off receptors in the gastric wall. These in turn signal the lower oesophageal sphincter muscle (a muscular valve located at the point the oesophagus meets the stomach) to relax, releasing a little bubble of gas up your oesophagus and out through your mouth via the upper oesophageal sphincter.

Okay, but what accounts for that delightful BROOAAAAP sound that would get you a bollocking at the dinner table when you were a kid?

You probably know the feeling when a burp seems ‘lodged’ in your throat, waiting to be released like a bullet biding its time in the chamber — that’s the feeling you get when an air bubble (i.e. your burp-to-be) forms in your throat. As it grows, it begins to exert pressure against the closed upper oesophageal sphincter. Once that pressure becomes critical, the burp blasts its way through the sphincter with such force it causes the tissues of the throat passage and oesophagus to vibrate, which is what produces that *chef’s kiss* sound resembling a bullfrog’s mating call.

Congrats! You’ve now graduated Burping 101. Let’s move onto the good stuff.

Now that you’ve mastered the mechanics of burping, let’s look at how to make yourself burp at will.

The shrewd among you will have figured out by now that the secret is in increasing the amount of trapped air you can accrue in your stomach. Whilst ‘more air, baby’ should certainly be your North Star as you seek to cure your eructile dysfunction, we’ll also look at some techniques that can help ‘nudge’ the extra air out of your system.

And one involving a finger.

So *takes deep breath and readies sphincter muscle* let’s get into it. Here are some tricks that’ll get those burps flowing:

That’s right, nothing says burp like carbonated beverages, or as we prefer to call them, ‘fizzy drinks’. Figures that drinks pumped full of gas bubbles lead to a greater gas buildup in the stomach, doesn’t it? No doubt you have your go-to fizzy drink — sorry, carbonated beverage –but here are some suggestions if you need some inspiration:

In order to maximise the amount of air that gets trapped along with what you’re drinking, you wanna chug that mother. Avoid dainty little sips – you don’t swallow as much air that way. Large volumes swallowed quickly is key here.

At this stage it should not surprise you to learn that eating gas-promoting foods leads to the, er, promotion of gas in your digestive tract, thereby inducing burps. Here’s a list of some of the top gas promoting foods:

Disclaimer: you may have noticed that some of these items have a tendency to promote another form of gas buildup – what the Romans referred to as flatus. Take this into consideration and choose wisely.

Chewing gum and eating sweets causes you to swallow more often, which results in…you guessed it, more trapped air. Get chewing.

Now we’re getting to the zany stuff. Although this sounds like a mystical Jedi power, it’s actually just a case of sucking air into your stomach. Force air down into your digestive tract by breathing a big dollop of it into your mouth (don’t inhale) until you feel an air bubble sitting in your throat…and then swallow. Hey presto, gas.

This may be an old wives’ tale but worth a try if the beans aren’t doing it for you. Fill a glass with ordinary drinking water. Next, bend over at your hips till your eyes are nearly level with your knees. Then with your arms forward, sip from the wrong side of the glass– i.e. the rim of the glass that’s furthest from you, tipping the water slowly into your mouth. If you are thinking that burps are related to hiccups then you would be absolutely correct!

Expect spillage.

Physically changing your position can help to ‘jolt’ the air out of your system. There are a number of ways to do this, including:

If you’re chained to a desk or are struggling with the above, simply changing your breathing style can help. Try taking deeper breaths or going the other way and taking a few short, sharp breaths.

Although calcium carbonate antacids are primarily intended to relieve acid ingestion, they can assist with inducing burps. However, any acid reflux medication should be taken with care: please do not consume any without seeking professional medical advice beforehand.

The nuclear option. The last resort. The Alamo. If nothing has worked so far, time for The Finger.

That’s right, we’re getting ready for some gag reflex triggering.

Wash your hands and stick a clean finger into your mouth till it brushes the back of your throat. Be gentle as you do this, you absolutely do not want to use too much force here. Remember, the aim is just to trigger a small gag and make yourself burp, or ‘air vomit’ – you want to avoid actually vomiting.

At least we hope you do.

And so just like air slowly drifting up through the oesophagus, we come to the end of your training.

• Carbonated beverages. Soda, beer, and other carbonated beverages are bubbly and gassy.
• Movement. Movement can put pressure on the air in the stomach and force it upward, potentially causing a person to burp.
• Eat gas-promoting foods.
• Antacids.
• Swallowing air.
• Triggering the gag reflex.