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The Art of Sneezing
Now this is something you don’t think about everyday, Sneezing! More technically known as sternutation. To some this may be something embarrassing or possibly just a pain in tha back side. But none the less, it’s a natural occurrence that everyone has gone through at one time or another.
Some people sneeze when looking at the sun. This is known as Photic Sneeze Reflex, or photoptarmosis. Believe it or not, this is a condition that isn’t present in everyone. It only affects a third of the population. This is also known as Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst, or ACHOO. Ahh, interesting eh? Bet you wondered where that came from…lol Anyway, this is a genetic condition in which sunlight stimulates the optic nerves. It then sends sensory impulses to the trigeminal nerve in the nose, thus causing a tickle that leads to sneezing.
There are some folks, hopefully women, that will sneeze while plucking their eyebrows. This too is caused from the nerves in the face firing off and sending a tickling sensation to the nose. If you’ve ever wondered about sneezing in your sleep, does it happen? Actually it doesn’t happen, because the nerves that cause you to sneeze are at rest while you’re sleeping. Although sometimes while in light sleep, you may wake suddenly in order to sneeze. But this isn’t very common.
One big misconception about sneezing is that your heart stops or skips a beat every time you let one fly. This isn’t exactly the occurrence during or after a sneeze, but what does happen is quite similar. A sneeze will cause changing pressure in your chest which can change your blood flow, this can change the rhythm of your heart.
One interesting fact for ya about sneezing. Most folks will sneeze through their mouths, where an animal will sneeze through their nose.
Sneezing Etiquite
Sneezing is actually a nasty occurrence. I would always advise you to cover your
Photo by qcommouth and nose when you are able if sneezing. The amount of pressure that is exerted while sneezing may blow germs and air bourn pathogens for quite some distance. And no one wants to spread any sickness to others, at least I hope not. So trapping all the blow by is simple respect for others.
Typically after someone sneezes it’s common courtesy to say “God Bless You”, or at least it is in the United States. But Zulus will say, “I am now blessed.” Greeks and Romans say, “Banish the omen.” Hindus will say, “Live,” with the response, “With you.” Of course all of these may not make sense to us all, but we all know different folks have different strokes.
So I hope this has helped shed some light on a subject that you probably don’t get to discuss everyday. Maybe of course you may not want to. But you should know by now that I find most all odd topics of discussion fascinating…
ha ha ………. i am sneezing right now ……… 🙂 ……. good post …… loved it …………. 🙂
Ahhh, lol, maybe this article tickled the trigeminal nerve in your nose! Glad you enjoyed the article.
That’s a really useful info. See we always try to brake our head but forget the things that happening every day with us. Hope in future we will see more info from you.
Indeed Azim, it’s easy to take for granted the everyday processes. I like to ponder these ideas and take them in depth, you’ll definitely be seeing lots more from me. 😀
what a co-incident it is.. I m suffering from flue and and sneezing and found this topic…
Like it 🙂
Well thank you William, I’m glad you liked it. Hope you get better soon!
Ha, sometimes people get very disappointed when they try to snees and they don’t have enough “iritation” to do so:) Kind of frustrating.
Haha, yep, I can’t stand it when that happens. I read something about if you open your eyes really wide when attempting to sneeze it can help.
Good information . Keep it up
Once again feeling happy and proud to say that this is one of my favorite Blogs. The postings are very unique and also outstanding with the new creativity and knowledge and with the new different ideas and concepts. Really I am waiting for some more new posts from you. Just keep up your higher efficiency.
I appreciate the kind words Michelle! My main goal is to bring unusual and interesting topics to light, for my readers. I am always pondering new things, so you can expect my continuing efficiency. 😀
I have flue and I keep on sneezing. I’m not expecting to drop by in this topic. Nice topic to discuss.
I suppose the topic was appropriate considering you’re sick. I certainly hope you get well soon!
Hi, I agree with every statement that you have made in the post and I really appreciate your effort in gathering up the information. I’ve really enjoyed reading your articles. You obviously know what you are talking about! Your site is so easy to navigate too, I’ve bookmarked it in my favourites. Thanks for it.
Big thumbs up for the kind words Kakaji.
Is it just coincidence that I find a sneezing,good page in the midst of a flu’ attack…having coughed my way here,maybe I’ll sneeze my way out.
Thanks for the info’does it come with tissues supplied?
haha, sorry Jenny I love the way you put that! I truly do hope you can get over your flu. It’s no fun at all being sick…I’ve been fighting off a cold for the last couple of days myself, not sure that I’m going to win though. 🙁