Friday, May 1, 2009

Sternutation

"What the heck is that?" you may ask. It is a sneeze. And if looked up on Wikipedia the following definition would be given: a semi-autonomous, convulsive expulsion of air from the lungs through the nose and mouth, most commonly caused by foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa. Well put. Sneezing really isn't that interesting of a thing. Everyone does it; it is quite common.
What I do find interesting are the rumors about sneezing. Such as, if you look at light it will make you sneeze. I'm not sure if this is true or not but my trusty research companion Wiki told me that this may be believed because some people have photic sneeze reflex. This is a genetic trait that causes you to sneeze when you see a sudden bright light. Approximately 37% of individuals have this trait. So looking at a light does not work for everyone. Another myth says that your heart stops. This is not true. The pressure created in your chest during sternutation cause the rhythm of your blood flow and heartbeat to change slightly. This may make it feel like your heart skipped a beat, but it did not cause it stop.

Other interesting facts:
You cannot sneeze at night because during REM your motor neurons are not signaled to send the reflex to your brain.
The world record for sneezing is held by Donna Griffiths from Worstershire in the UK, who sneezed for 978 days in a row.
A sneeze can spread up to 5 feet and exits your body at 100 mph.
What I find particularly interesting is the belief that if you don't close your eyes while sneezing they will pop out. It seems like such a preposterous idea. Could the force expelling the tens of thousands of droplets from our bodies be enough to rip our eyes out of their sockets? And could the action of shutting our eyelids be enough to fight that force? It doesn't seem likely to me. But, a few weeks ago I had a cold and was sneezing quite often and I had the idea to experiment sneezing with my eyes open. So every time I felt the urge to sneeze I placed my index finger on my top eyelid and by thumb on the bottom and stretched my eye open. Not a very comfortable or attractive position, but it was for the good of science, and when is a sneeze comfortable or attractive? Every time I did that nothing happened; I couldn't sneeze anymore. It was quite odd and bothersome. When you gotta sneeze, you gotta sneeze. Its the worst feeling when a sneeze won't come out. My body must've known I was forcing my eyes open and consequently wouldn't let me sneeze as to not let them pop out. This may or may not be true, but thinking about it, sneezing is a difficult reflex, using most of your upper body to do it:diaphram, lungs, esophagus, mouth, and nose. Closing the eyes may make it a little bit easier to accomplish the task. I believe it is just apart of the reflex and don't think my eyes will fall out, at least I hope not.

1 comment:

  1. oh. i thought you had a whole list of things to blog about. so why sneezing? haha to each their own. but thanks for the info! i learned more about sneezes then i ever knew about them before. your so smartical :)

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