mat@alice.UUCP (03/21/88)
A strange thing I have noticed is that sneezing frequencies or the number of sneezes in a set seem to be constant for two sets of conditions. (please note: these conditions may only be true for me, I haven't asked anyone else yet.) These are as follows: I. Sneezes from pollen or dust come in threes. II. Sneezes from illness come in fours. (Usually the illness sneezes come before other symptoms, then stop once I'm really sick.) Could this have a genetic/physiological or psychological basis? Please e-mail responses as I don't usually read this group. Thanks much! -- Mat Pirz ihnp4!alice!mat Standard Disclaimers(TM) Apply "Hive a nice day!" - Anonomous
cogen@XN.LL.MIT.EDU (David Cogen) (03/23/88)
In article <7756@alice.UUCP> mat@alice.UUCP writes: > I. Sneezes from pollen or dust come in threes. > II. Sneezes from illness come in fours. For myself, sneezes caused by sudden exposure to sunlight always come in twos. That is the only kind of sneeze I regularly experience. I do have occasional isolated single sneezed with no apparent cause. I never sneeze more than twice consecutively. -- |-|-----|-|-----|-| | |David S Cogen| | |-|-----|-|-----|-|
news@santra.UUCP (news) (03/25/88)
In article <939@xn.LL.MIT.EDU> cogen@XN.LL.MIT.EDU (David Cogen) writes: >For myself, sneezes caused by sudden exposure to sunlight always come in twos. Not commenting on how my sneezes come when they do, I would be interested to hear any suggestions why sudden exposure makes you sneeze in the first place. Not having adequate education in physiology I can't think of any reasons for this. Any suggestions ?
howard@pioneer.arpa (Lauri Howard) (04/01/88)
In article <11360@santra.UUCP> s30986u@kaira.UUCP (Martin Olav Helin) writes: }In article <939@xn.LL.MIT.EDU> cogen@XN.LL.MIT.EDU (David Cogen) writes: }}For myself, sneezes caused by sudden exposure to sunlight always come in twos. } }Not commenting on how my sneezes come when they do, I would be interested to }hear any suggestions why sudden exposure makes you sneeze in the first place. I was told it's genetic.
chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) (04/11/88)
In article <2549@ihuxv.ATT.COM> tedk@ihuxv.ATT.COM (Kekatos) substitutes `|' for `>' in too many places (note message id below) :-) and comments: >In article <11360@santra.UUCP| s30986u@kaira.UUCP (Martin Olav Helin) writes: >|... I would be interested to hear any suggestions why sudden exposure >|[to sunlight] makes you sneeze in the first place. >I was told that it has something to do with "histamines". The claim I heard is that it is something called `photic optic reflex', and has something to do with the optic and nasal nerves `interfering', so that the bright light is mistakenly interpreted by the brain as nasal irritation. It always makes me sneeze twice too. -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163) Domain: chris@mimsy.umd.edu Path: uunet!mimsy!chris
news@santra.UUCP (news) (04/12/88)
>>In article <6753@ames.arpa> howard@pioneer.UUCP (Lauri Howard) writes: >>I would be interested to >>hear any suggestions why sudden exposure makes you sneeze in the first place. >I was told it's genetic. I find it a little bit hard to believe that it's genetic. That would imply that seeing the sun is the only stimulus, which in turn starts the "sneezing- mechanism". I relate inhereted behaviour to cases (for example) like beeing afraid or cautious when confronting a snake, even if you have never seen one in your life and you're too young to have learned that snakes are supposed to be dangerous. Of course, I could be wrong ! Then the reaction beeing inhereted would be a neat explanation. If it is genetic another interesting question arises : what possibly could be the function of this reaction ? PS. "Lauri" sounds like a Finnish name to me - perhaps you, your parents or your grandparents origin from Finland ? Do you understand any Finnish ? (answer via e-mail, please)
briscoe-duke@CS.YALE.EDU (Duke Briscoe) (04/13/88)
The only times I've noticed the sneezing reaction is when I am looking up into a bright sky, usually towards the sun. It is pretty clear to me that there is a genetic basis to this reaction, and that its purpose is to keep you from looking at light so bright that it could damage your retina. The bit about the sneezing occurring upon sudden exposure to bright light would be related to the fact that your pupil has not yet adjusted to the intensity change.
fowser@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Scott Fowser) (04/14/88)
>The only times I've noticed the sneezing reaction is when I am looking up into >a bright sky, usually towards the sun. It is pretty clear to me that there is >a genetic basis to this reaction, and that its purpose is to keep you from >looking at light so bright that it could damage your retina. The bit about the >sneezing occurring upon sudden exposure to bright light would be related to the >fact that your pupil has not yet adjusted to the intensity change. What better way to keep you from looking than to sneeze, since it is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. :^) Actually, I seems to me, that the sneeze is probably caused by some of the chemical tranmitter from a nerve carrying an especially strong signal leaking over to the nerves running to the nasal cavity. I wouldn't expect it to take much since it doesn't seem to take much of a signal to cause a sneeze under normal conditions. Don't lots of the nerves from the face come close to the nerves of the nose where they all enter the skull at a common point? This would explain why some people go into sneezing fits when they experience a sharp pain on the face, such as a bee or jellyfish sting. A friend of mine would hiccup whenever he touched a certain spot on his jaw.
ccjoan@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Joan Gargano) (04/15/88)
In article <27047@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> briscoe-duke@CS.YALE.EDU (Duke Briscoe) writes: >The only times I've noticed the sneezing reaction is when I am looking up into >a bright sky, usually towards the sun. It is pretty clear to me that there is >a genetic basis to this reaction, and that its purpose is to keep you from >looking at light so bright that it could damage your retina. The bit about the >sneezing occurring upon sudden exposure to bright light would be related to the >fact that your pupil has not yet adjusted to the intensity change. This actually has to do with the stimulation of a nerve in the eye by the bright light. This nerve also passes through the nasal area. The stimulation then causes you to sneeze. -- Joan Gargano * Univ. of Calif., Davis, Computing Services * (916) 752-2591 Internet jcgargano@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu BITNET jcgargano@ucdavis UUCP {ucbvax, lll-crg, sdcsvax}!ucdavis!jcgargano
callele@bnr-di.UUCP (David Callele) (04/15/88)
I have been told that the reason I (almost invariably) sneeze when I go out into the sun is because I have descended from a frog. Actually, the eye muscles that control the iris spasm and put pressure on the top of the sinus cavities. This stimulates the sneeze response. I had it explained to me as analogous to the way a frog swallows - you ever notice how their eyes sink into their skulls to help push the food down? I was told that this is a similar mechanism. Who knows - maybe I was lied to?