*sneeze* What the heck
*sneeze* Why?!
*SNEEZE* STOP IT.
Sneezing is a thing we do, right?
Everyone does it, it's a natural process, but WHY?
What's going on up in there?!
A sneeze is a reaction to a foreign contaminant.
The cilia -- or tiny hairs -- are detecting something in your nasal passages that it needs
to GET OUT.
Not just dust or a bit of pepper… sneezing also removes bacteria, viruses and mucus;
medically it's called sternutation.
Once your nose feels the contaminant, it sends a signal through the trigeminal cranial nerve
to the ventromedial spinal trigeminal nuclei and in the adjacent pontomedullary lateral
reticular formation in the brain -- we'll just call it the sneeze center, it's near
the brain stem.
The signals trigger a reaction to close your eyes, mouth, and throat -- to build pressure
behind the vocal chords -- then when your chest muscles squeeze REALLY fast, air, saliva
and mucus are shotgunned out of your nose and mouth at a little less than 100 mph.
With that mucosal propulsion, are about 100,000 microorganisms.
Other than dust or foreign contaminants, the sun can make you sneeze too!
It's called photic sneeze reflex -- OR Autosomal-dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic -- yes.
That is now the nerdiest joke you know.
Sunshine triggers sneezes in 10 to 35 percent of the population, scientists think, because
that trigeminal nerve, which connects the face to the brain, runs right NEXT to the
optic nerve!
And sometimes when a bunch of light hits the retina, the sudden flood of electrical energy
can overflow into the trigeminal nerve and trigger a sneeze!
Some people sneeze when they pluck their eyebrows, because of that trigeminal nerve; but even
more strange, is some people have been documented to sneeze after sex, or because of a full
stomach!
Post-sneeze, the little cilia are highly active for a few minutes, before calming back down.
That’s why sometimes, one sneeze isn't enough.
I swear, my Mom sneezes in odd numbers; threes and fives.
If you've heard of this, you're not crazy, it's real, but it hasn't been studied much
-- mainly because it doesn't harm anyone.
They know it might be genetic, and is predictable in family groups -- with sneezes usually coming
in twos or threes.
After a sneeze, people feel the need to SAY something.
Ancient peoples were noted as wishing people well, and LOTS of other cultures still go
the health route: gesundheit, salud, bud zdorov, bai sui, or saúde…
But in the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great started saying, "God Bless You," and
that one stuck around in the West pretty good.
We at DNews just say, "Science," because…
I dunno... it seems silly to me to ward off nose demons…