Medical and Science

Sneezing, Ahhh Feels so Good

June 15-21, 2011 by osseous, on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic LicensePhoto by  osseous

 

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

Sneeze by qcom, on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic LicensePhoto by  qcom

mouth 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…

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28 thoughts on “Sneezing, Ahhh Feels so Good
  1. Olbas Oil is my new must-have perfume for Xmas…good luck with your sniffles,still a red nose is in keeping with the season!!

    1. Well I hope you get a great big jug of it for Christmas!

      I actually went to the doctor today and she told me I had some kind of viral cold, so they gave me a steroid shot and told me to get some immune booster. Cost $175 for that advice!

  2. Hmmm…don’t do Medical profession prefer Alternative and for me it works…recovery time is much quicker and cheaper…so Olbas for sniffs,snuffles,coughs,aches and pains and Echinacea for your immune system…can’t remember the last time I took prescriptive medicine and at that price don’t think I’ll find out any time soon but then we have the NHS in the UK and Doctors hand out ‘jolly lollies’ all the time,hence ‘medical tourism’…so good luck with your shot of gold.

  3. Yep, I’m thinking you’ve got the right idea for sure. Kind of regretting the trip to see the doc, just felt like I didn’t get my money’s worth, ya know? But I suppose it’s good news if I don’t actually need antibiotics…maybe I cut it off before it got too bad. *shrug*

  4. Hello Robert
    Thanks for the marvelous posting!
    you have a good knowledge!!
    really beneficial for me…

    1. Thank you Chadha…One can never learn too much, that’s why I’m on a constant search for knowledge. 🙂

  5. Thanks for this fresh unique and helpful post i am 100 % with your post and all replies. i am waiting your next helpful post

    1. Thank you, I appreciate that, and thanks for stopping by to leave your feedback.

  6. The post about sneezing is really quickly relief for us !! I am sure when we will go according to you it will directly benefit for us !! Thanks to share your great thought about sneezing which is really great problem for us !!

    1. Yes there are actually some benefits to sneezing, besides how good it feels to let one rip. Preciate you dropping by and reading the blog.

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