Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Sneezing |

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By michael - March, 16th 2014

Sneezing seems so natural and harmless process but believe after reading this post you will be amazed as shocked that this aachoo thing can create so much of mess. Anything that irritates your nasal mucosa makes you sneeze irresistibly. If you are allergic dust, pollens and pollutants then sneezing affects you every now and then as soon as you come in contact with the allergens.

Cold and flu season may be winding down, but sneezing — with allergies surely on the way — is here to stay. We all do it, though some of us are more disruptively loud than others. It's a reflex we simply can't control. But other than the most obvious causes — fresh pepper, anyone? — how much do we really know about what our sneezes mean? Here are a few fun facts you probably didn't know about sneezing.

1. Your sneezes travel up to 100 miles per hour.
At least, according to some. The brave “MythBusters” guys actually timed theirs, clocking those sneezes between 30 and 35 miles per hour.

2. Their germ-ridden spray can land pretty far away.

Some guess you'll spread in a five-foot radius, others have wagered mucus lands as far as 30 feet away. At that rate, there's practically no escaping those germs!

3. We sneeze to give our noses a reboot.
In 2012, researchers figured out why, precisely, we sneeze, and what's supposed to happen when we do. ScienceDaily reported:

Much like a temperamental computer, our noses require a “reboot” when overwhelmed, and this biological reboot is triggered by the pressure force of a sneeze. When a sneeze works properly, it resets the environment within nasal passages so “bad” particles breathed in through the nose can be trapped. The sneeze is accomplished by biochemical signals that regulate the beating of cilia (microscopic hairs) on the cells that line our nasal cavities.

4. Sunlight causes many people to sneeze.

Feather, pepper, colds, flus and pesky allergies aren't the only reasons we let a sneeze rip. Theories abound to other causes, but one in particular has been scientifically studied: bright light. About one in four people sneeze in sunlight, a reaction called aphotic sneeze reflex, LiveScience reported. Scientists don't entirely understand why this happens, but expect that the message the brain receives to shrink the pupils in the presence of bright light may cross paths with the message the brain receives to sneeze.

5. It's quite normal to sneeze in twos or threes.
Those “bad” particles trapped in the nasal passages and expelled by sneezes aren't exactly sprinting to the exit. It often takes more than one attempt to kick those irritants out, which can lead to multiple sneezes in a row, Everyday Health reported.