Sneezing. Its the topic for today because I can't stop doing it. I started sneezing yesterday and its continued into today. As such, I thought I'd do some research to find out just what sneezing is all about.
Sneezing, also known as sternutation, is how our bodies deal with nose irritations. When your nose has one of these irritations, it sends a signal to the "sneeze center" of your brain. That center then sends out a message to several muscles within your body, preparing them for the sneeze. Once all these muscles receive the message, they all work together, in a perfect order, to extract the irritation.
The muscles that are required to work together, when a person sneezes, include the diaphragm, lungs, chest and abdominal muscles, vocal chords, throat muscles and the muscles in your eyelids!! Don't believe me? Try sneezing with your eyes open. Can't be done!
A sneeze has the power to remove an irritation at speeds up to 100 mph. That's fast and shows just how strong all those muscles can be when they work together.
A few things that can start the "sneezing process" are dust particles, cold air, pepper, the common cold, as well as allergies caused by animal dander and pollen.
Another odd item that can make you sneeze like crazy is light (mostly sun light). I have first hand knowledge of this. Every time I go outside and the sun is shining, I sneeze repetitively for several minutes. People who do this are called "Photic Sneezers" (photic means light). One out of every 3 people is a photic sneezer and, interestingly, it is an inherited trait. So, if you tend to sneeze when introduced to light, you got that from one of your parents.
Do you ever feel a sneeze coming on and then it just stops? If this happens to you fairly frequently, and you are a photic sneezer, try looking at a light (not directly into the sun, but towards light) and see if you can't get your body to extract that irritation. Odds are, you'll be saying "Achoo!!!" in no time.
The somewhat automatic response to a sneeze is to say, "Bless you." The history on this varies widely; but, the most popular theory seems to be that of an ancient superstition. In ancient times, people believed that when a person sneezed, part of their soul was released through their nostrils. In an effort to keep the devil from entering that person, they would bless the sneezer.
Another popular word used when someone sneezes is "gesundheit". This word comes from Germany, and it literally means "health." The Germans believed that a sneeze typically preceded an illness, so they responded by wishing the sneezer "health".
Now you know everything there is to know about the common "Achoo!!!", "Bless you!!!" and "Gesundheit!!!"
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