Why do we sneeze?
You may have just sneezed and felt the need to find out why you sneezed, why you sneeze when you look at the sun, why you sometimes sneeze several times in a row, why you close your eyes, why you sneeze, why you sneeze, why you sneeze, why you sneeze, why you sneeze, why you sneeze, why you sneeze, why you sneeze, why you sneeze. eyes when you do… stay and find out.
Sneezing occurs when some substance irritates or tickles the inside of our nose. At that moment in our brain activates a part called the sneeze centre, which sends a message to all the muscles necessary for sneezing, including the abdominal muscles, chest muscles, diaphragm, throat muscles and vocal cords, and the eyelids, which always close just at the moment of sneezing.
The sneeze centre is responsible for coordinating all the muscles involved in the sneeze to work in unison to send the particle flying out of the nose at a speed of over 150 km/h!
There are several factors that can cause us to sneeze, one of the most common being photic sneezing, which occurs when we are exposed to something very bright, such as sunlight. This sneezing is heritable, and is caused by a SNP (explanation and example of SNP in this other article), rs10427255, in which people who have a cytosine instead of a thymine are more likely to suffer from them. For example, in Spain approximately 53% of people carry this modification, whereas in the population 56% of the world’s population overall carry it; data obtained from emsemble.org.
Why do we sneeze several times in a row?
The reason we sneeze in multiples has to do with why we sneeze in the first place, says Marjorie L. Slankard director of the Allergy Clinic at Columbia-New York Presbyterian Medical Center. You sneeze to rid your nose of whatever’s irritating it. Sometimes that takes two, three or four sneezes.
Why don’t we sneeze in our sleep?
This has to do with the fact that sneezing is a reflex action, and that when we sleep all the nerves responsible for this relax, preventing the event from being triggered.
The longest sneeze in history
The story goes that Donna Griffiths from Worcestershire in England sneezed continuously from 13 January 1981 to 16 September 1983 for a total of 978 days.
Fun facts about sneezing
- In some cultures sneezing is a sign of good luck, while in other cultures sneezing at the same time as someone else is a sign of bad luck.
- Pepper contains the main molecule that makes us sneeze, the chemical piperine, which is why it is common to sneeze while grinding peppercorns while cooking.
- The colour of the mucus when sneezing can tell us if we have an infection, the colour of the mucus comes from the white blood cells in the mucus.
Find out how the wings of a cicada can be used as antibiotic material here.