Talk:Sneeze

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Here are some tasks you can do:
  • Requests: Any photos of people or animals sneezing would be appreciated
  • Verify: Citations needed for many claims
  • Cleanup: Tidy up the trivia and cut down on the long lists (prose with a few examples would be fine)
  • Expand: Try to find more some scientific material on the subject

Contents

[edit] Eyelid close response citation

There's one at the bottom of the page. Can somebody who knows what they are doing link the two up?

[edit] Which animals sneeze?

which animals sneeze? dogs and cats do -- do all mammals? -- Tarquin 12:08 23 May 2003 (UTC)

I dont think whales, dolphins and other mammals that live in water, sneeze, but am not sure. Most land mammals probably do sneeze (there probably are some exceptions though).
The big deal probably isn't which mammals sneeze (because a large variety of animals sneeze) but rather how they sneeze. Such an example could be sneezing only through the nose or mouth. --Laundrypowder 04:37, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
An interesting paper on differences between sneezing and coughing. Upper airway motor outputs during sneezing and coughing in decerebrate cats. just for note.

[edit] Sun-Sneezing

An excellent question. This is far more complicated than you might imagine. Since the detailed answer below got kind of long, I will summarize the main points up front. About 25% of people do actually sneeze when exposed to bright lights like the sun. We do not know exactly why this happens, but it might reflect a "crossing" of pathways in the brain, between the normal reflex of the eye in response to light and the sneezing reflex. There is no apparent benefit from "sun-sneezing", and it probably is nothing more than an unimportant (but annoying) holdover of evolution.

There are actually three questions here:

1) Do people really sneeze when they look at the sun? This is an important question! There a lot of things that people say they do that they don’t really do. I personally do not sneeze when I look at the sun, and for a long time I thought this was a myth. But I am guessing that you are a sun-sneezer from your question. It seems that some people really do sneeze when they look at the sun, or actually at any bright light but there might be a difference since the supectrum of sunlight is quite unique compared to most bright light sources encountered. This has been recognized in medical journals for at least 40 years, and is called different things, including the "photic sneeze reflex" and even the "ACHOO syndrome". In a few instances the reflex has been documented by shining bright lights at people to make them sneeze, so it probably really does happen.

The thing is, the sun does not make most people sneeze. The best estimates are that only about 25% of people (i.e. 1 in 4) are sun-sneezers, and even sun-sneezers don’t do it most of the time. Other studies suggest that sun-sneezers might have inherited the trait in a dominant fashion from their parents (which means that if only one parent was a sneezer, they would pass the trait on to half of their kids). The problem with these estimates is that they generally rely on asking people if they sun-sneeze, and if their parents do. This is VERY unreliable. People who sun-sneeze tend to assume everyone does, and people who don’t sun-sneeze have often never even considered the possibility!!

2) What is the mechanism by which sun-sneezing occurs? What actually makes it happen? The simplest answer is that we don’t really know. There are many theories that I won’t get into specifically, since most require a detailed understanding of brain anatomy to even describe. What I will try to do instead is to briefly explain the nature of the sneeze reflex and offer a simple understanding of how light might act as a trigger.

What is a sneeze? Well, everybody knows what a sneeze is, but try and describe it sometime! The fact is, a sneeze is a very complicated thing, involving many areas of the brain. A sneeze is a reflex triggered by sensory stimulation of the membranes in the nose, resulting in a coordinated and forceful expulsion of air through the mouth and nose. A "reflex" means that some type of stimulation of your body causes you to react in a way that is NOT under your control, in other words you do it automatically without thinking and you can’t even stop it. Your body has many reflexes - the other one important to us here is called the "pupillary light reflex". If you shine a light in your eyes, your pupils get smaller, or constrict. You should be able to see this easily in a friend using a flashlight (or in the mirror).

In the pupillary light reflex, shining a light in the eye causes nerve signals to go from the eye to the brain and then back the eye again, telling the pupil to constrict. In the usual sneeze reflex, tickling the nose causes nerve signals to go from the nose to the brain and then back out to the nose, mouth, chest muscles and everything else involved in the actual sneeze. The key point is that the nerve signals take complicated routes through the brain, but usually the pupillary light reflex and sneeze reflex take different routes. Apparently what happens in sun-sneezers is that shining a bright enough light in the eye ALSO sends nerves signals from the eye to the brain and then back out to the nose, mouth and chest! In short, the wires are crossed a little bit in some people, and so shining a light in the eye "accidentally" activates two different outgoing pathways.

3) What is the benefit or value of sun-sneezing? Is it a good thing? Again, not an easy question! Some people argue that it must be a good thing since the trait has been maintained in our population. I’m not so sure.

What is the benefit of sneezing in general? The easy answer is that the thing tickling your nose might be a bad thing (like a virus, bacteria or pollen), and sneezing forces it out. The problem is that most adults sneeze mainly through their mouth, and so sneezing won’t force anything out of the nose. This is in contrast to most animals, who sneeze largely through their nose (watch your dog or cat next time). So I think that sneezing really serves little purpose to humans (little kids might be an exception to this). I think that sneezing is important to animals that rely heavily on the sense of smell, but that in us it is just an annoying "holdover" of evolution. But that is just my opinion.

But even if a normal sneeze does function in ridding the nose of foreign materials, I can think of no reason why shining a light in the eye would create a need to force things from the nose! And in the several papers I have read on this subject, no one else gave a reason why sun-sneezing would be beneficial. Sun-sneezing must truly either be an accident of brain anatomy, or an evolutionary holdover from our animal friends, that serves no purpose in humans.

Thanks for a very thought-provoking question. Keep ‘em comin’!

Tom Wilson, MD PhD

Thanks for the answer W3bu53r
Er. Above is from this page. (I sneezed and was bored, so I Googled "sneeze". Not my C&P.) --Cuervo 21:55, 20 May 2005 (UTC)
Not that this should help one bit, but I "sun sneeze" and I had always heard that it was a way of your body telling you not to look directly at the sun. I was skeptical about that explanation. -- Tim 2:31, 19 November 2005
Why do you guys think about sunlight for eyes, eyes and eyes? Have you ever thought about the heat? Don't people feel a rush of heat through the body when hit with the sunlight, what if it's something similar to that happening to the nose or whatever causes the sneeze. Not saying it's true but nobody said anything about that. Freda, 14 Jan 05
I can look directly into the sun and have nothing happen to me but rather when I have been in a rather dim lit area (example- my classroom in highshcool) for an extended period of time and then I exit that room and enter a sun filled area (exe- the courtyard) I used to sneeze almost 100% of the time. I know it has nothing to do with the protection of your eyes but rather could it be a natural reaction of entering a new enviroment (exiting a cave and going into the sunlight) and your body assuming there is going to somesort of new iritant that you might not want entering your body and you protect yourself by getting rid of that first blast of what ever could have entered your body. I am an extemely healthy person and have gotten sick only 2 or 3 times in the last 10 years. I have no alergies and haven't ever been effected by anything in the enviroment. This might seem like a stupid idea to other people but reading all of the other ideas, it ranks up there for me. It has a cause and effect and even a long lasting reason to keep it around. Thanks for reading and please comment.

[edit] Quirky Fact Validity?

The "quirky fact" about Jean-Marc Godbout seems both inaccurate (what date did he start sneezing on?) and implausible. I can't find any mentions of his record on Google either. At this point I'm tempted to think that whole line is just vandalism that went unnoticed. Does anybody else think it should be removed? Tronno 04:15, Jan 7, 2005 (UTC)

Neither of the 'Quirky Facts' have a reference, and cannot be easily verified. I've removed them from the page and reproduced their content here. If a reliable reference can be found, I'd be happy to see the section re-instated. --PJF (talk) 23:48, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)
  ==Quirky Facts==
  Jean-Marc Godbout of Ottawa, Ontario holds the world record for a continuous sneezing fit, currently at 3 years, 6 months and 4 days (and counting.)
  Yi Yang of PRC, holds the world record for the loudest sneeze at 176db.

Here's one from Guiness World Records [1]: This time though it's Donna Griffiths and 978 days. Not too sure how reliable Guiness are, though =P RolandDeschain

[edit] Speed of sneeze

The article currently claims the maximum speed of a sneeze is "146 km/h (90.74 miles per hour)". I'm sure there's debate about the maximum speed, but we should at least make the km/h and mph values agree. I'd correct it, but I don't know which is right!

For reference 1mph = 1.609..km/h.

Well, some people sneeze through their nose and others out their mouth, so the speed really depends on whether it exits out the nose or the mouth. Smb1001 18:47, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I'm in favour of the maximum speed section being removed until a suitable reference can be found. The current speed information is internally inconsistant, and there are no references or other material that's backing it up or can be used to verify the statements that have been made.
The whole article currently reads like on of those 'did you know' e-mails that seem to get endlessly circulated by bored office workers.
Unfortunately, I'm not an expert on sneezing, but I hope that we can find someone who is. I'm going to sprinkle a few appropriate templates and request peer review. The article needs a good fact-checking and review. --PJF (talk) 02:05, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Orgasms?

Note: Everyone who has written in this area is legally insane.

-U.S.Government 12:12, 28 Jul 2005 (UTC) (comment by anonymous user at 66.190.145.221, who has left multiple messages of similar POV on other pages)


This peice has degerated into little more than a tabloid excuse for an article. "Orgasms amongst humans can also cause sneezes" should be left out. If the person who wrote that wants it left in he should make another piece called Sneezing Facts and also list sources of this misinformation Cokehabit 14:59, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Why is it a NPOV dispute?????--LordVin1 22:14, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

OP must have confused this story with Jackie Mason(?)'s appearance on Johnny Carson. He told a joke about a friend who had an orgasm whever he sneezed. The man went to the doctor, who couldn't explain it. Jackie (in his joke) asked the friend what he was taking for it. The man said, "Pepper!" Sympleko 19:40, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)
It is true that orgasms have been known to cause orgasms in human males. Ridethefire3211 00:58, 19 May 2005 (UTC)
Yes, I usually have at least one orgasm when I have an orgasm. (Did you mean sneezes? :P) --Cuervo 21:56, 20 May 2005 (UTC)
I added the sentence back in (although in a better place in the article than before) because is has been medically documented that certain people sneeze after climaxing. I'm not sure of the reference off-hand but I can probably find it (it was mentioned in a Penthouse advice column back in the day). - DNewhall 18:27, 30 June 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sneeze and infidelity

In Mexico, there is a myth which considers that sneezing could mean that your partner is experiencing an orgasm. That is why sometimes we recommend a person who sneezes to call-up him or her.

[edit] Eyeballs

The reflex of shutting the eyes serves no obvious purpose [...] If you do try to keep your eyes open while sneezing, your eyes may fall out (from a Horrible Science book).

What? I don't know, if closing my eyes keeps them from falling out, that seems like a pretty obvious purpose to that reflex.

What is meant by that?

Absolutley false, i mean just look at any of the further readings. Your eyes do not fall out with ease. D-rew 14:28, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Purpose of shutting eyelids

It is almost impossible for a person to keep their eyelids open during a sneeze. The reflex of shutting the eyes serves no obvious purpose: the nerves serving the eyes and the nose are closely related, and stimuli to the one often trigger some response in the other.

I disagree with the above paragraph. Squeezing the eyes tightly shut while sneezing prevents delicate capillaries from being ruptured by the sudden and dramatic rise in blood pressure that occurs during the sneeze.

Has that ever been shown though, or is it just sort of assumed. I've always heard the no purpose thing, but the capillaries kinda sorta makes sense --D-rew 14:28, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

[Above comment left anonymously in article and moved here] -EDM 19:40, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Disadvantages of impeding sneezes

Is it true that when you block a sneeze (holding your nose, for instance) it can hurt your brain or something in your body? I'd really like to know.

If you hold your nose shut, it's possible to blow your eardrums out, I believe. 67.65.218.81 04:01, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

You can't "blow your eardrums out", but you can increase pressure. So if they are locked, for instance, they can open. The increased pressure in the nose, as in the ears, may cause damage if the area is already sore. For instance, having had a nosebleed just before, the wound might still be a bit open, and closing your nose while sneezing might open it again. --Tmh 19:56, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
I don't get it. You don't sneeze out your nose, you sneeze out your mouth!

.. on a separate subject, does anyone else ever experience horrible lasting aching pain after some sneezes?

I often feel dizzy or my throat is a bit sore

[edit] sneeze volume--citation??

I'm skeptical about the claim just added by user 38.98.87.5, that the decibel volume of a sneeze is correlated with immune function. I searched medline, and google, and didn't come up with anything. Can you (or anyone) provide a reputable source for this? (if it's indeed "widely accepted by the scientific community" then it should be easy to find.) Otherwise, I think it should be removed. tej 10:07, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Smells associated with sneezing

For the last couple of years, when I sneeze I can smell honey. People nearby me can too! Google'd this and found a couple of blog references to other people who this happens too - anyone know why?

I have nothing solid to base this opinion on, but I think the cause and effect here might be reversed. It's probably an allergen that smells like honey causing the sneeze in the first place and not the sneeze causing the perceived odor. DoGooderJohnnyD 21:48, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

My brother promises that dark chocolate makes him sneeze every time he eats it. Is this a common experience? Can anyone explain why it might be?

[edit] Bless You

Last night (27/10/06) on QI on BBC 2, one of the players said that sneezing could be related to the Plague, but Stephen Fry said that it is most definitely not (as in the plague does not cause sneezing, although the lemmings that first carried the plague [not rats] did sneeze to pass it on). --rjcuk 22:32, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation

There's a huge number of pronunciations in ridiculously wordy descriptions which need to be converted to IPA. I would be willing to do it, but the volume is huge, I don't have much time, and I'm not completely familiar with the wikimarkup for IPA. Could anyone else have a go? Quendus 13:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sneezing thru Nose or Mouth?

I've seen and heard claims that "most" people sneeze thru their nose or thru their mouth. Is there any actual data on how many use their nose or mouth (or both)? 67.188.71.65 01:35, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] how many times

I usually see people sneeze twice, why is that? Sometimes once, sometimes a lot... but usually only twice. Another way I keep from sneezing is pluging my nose and mouth and trying to breath through both those spots.... that will stop it --Colinstu 04:06, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

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