The five-minute habit that can HALVE excessive burping – so how many are ‘normal’ and when is it a red flag?

BRITS who struggle with excessive burping may be able to address this issue simply by singing, a study has suggested. Research found that people who sang for five-minute sessions over the course of a month burped at least half as much as they had done before starting the study. People who suffer from excessive burping may be able to address this habit by singing daily Credit: Getty Some 72% of people who sang every day for a week cut their burping frequency in half Credit: Getty While belly breathing, known as diaphragmatic breathing – engaging the diaphragm muscle to take deep breaths – is commonly used to help people stop burps before they happen, researchers in China now suggest ‘singing therapy’ could be more effective. Writing in the Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology journal, scientists found that after one week of singing treatment, around 72 per cent of participants had cut their burping frequency in half. Sign up for the Health newsletter Thank you! This was compared with just 39 per cent of people who used the breathing exercise instead. What’s more, at a one-month checkup, 50 per cent of people in the singing group still burped at least 50 per cent less than they had done before the study. This was compared to 31 per cent of those using the belly breathing method. Experts, however, have cautioned that the singing approach doesn’t entirely address the underlying issue behind excessive burping and that the study had significant limitations. Researchers focused on people with supragastric belching in their study. This is a disorder where air is involuntarily drawn into their oesophagus and then expelled as a belch, before it reaches their stomach. Most read in Health In contrast, normal burps release air that has collected in the stomach. The condition is seen as a behavioural disorder – the action is typically a learned response that may start when someone is experiencing stomach discomfort or reflux, Live Science says. Currently, supragastric belching is treated with breathing techniques and cognitive behavioural therapy, which aims to address the underlying mental triggers of the condition. So, how did the study work? The different types of burps and when to be worried... A burp is your body’s way of releasing excess gas from your stomach through your mouth. There are two different types of burps. A gastric burp – the ‘normal’ kind – and a supragastric burp. A gastric burp releases air that has traveled all the way down to the stomach. This is a standard reaction in the body, releasing swallowed air which accumulates during eating or eating. A supragastric burp, on the other hand, works differently: It happens when air gets pulled into the oesophagus, but doesn’t reach the stomach Your diaphragm contracts downward, creating a brief vacuum in your oesophagus that sucks air in from the throat This air is then immediately push back out again Supragastric belching can become repetitive and is sometimes linked to stress or anxiety. When to worry about your burping Burping is rarely dangerous, even if it happens a lot. But if it is accompanied by certain other symptoms, you should speak to a medical professional. These other signs include: Unintentional weight loss Difficulty or pain when swallowing Vomiting Blood in your stool or black stools Persistent stomach pain A fever Jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes) New onset of digestive symptoms after the age of 55 also warrants a closer look Source: Biology Insights and Science Insights Scientists took a group of 72 people diagnosed with the burping disorder and randomly assigned each one either a week of structured singing therapy or a week of diaphragmatic breathing. The singing therapy involved five-minute sessions, three times a day, for seven days, with participants singing one of four Chinese folk songs. Patients were also allowed to add more five-minute singing sessions if they wanted to. For those in the breathing therapy group, they took part in guided breathing exercises that tasked them with visualising the diaphragm’s movements and putting a hand on their tummy to feel the breath. Importantly, both treatment groups had to try and hit a target volume of 80 decibels with either their singing or deep breathing — that’s roughly the same volume as a food blender. Scientists found that those who were in the singing group burped significantly less both after one week and one month. What’s more, the singing group also reported a larger boost in quality of life and greater relief from burping immediately after the treatment than the breathing group did. But Dr Daniel Sifrim, a gastroenterologist at Queen Mary University of London who was not involved in the study, said there were drawbacks to the study. He was unsure if all 72 patients had supragastric belching, as it can be difficult to differentiate from normal burping. He also cautioned that the singing therapy does not necessarily address the underlying problem – the cognitive trigger that causes a person to excessively burp to begin with. Study authors acknowledged that more research is now needed, but they said the research points to a potential new area to be explored in future studies. Comment now