Sneezing is more often associated with colds, the bane of the winter season. But if you’ve noticed that you’re fielding more “gesundheits” and “bless yous” this summer and fall, you’re not alone.
The typical summer allergy season has been exacerbated in the Tri-State because of the high humidity blanketing the area, leading to more nasal explosions.
Summer allergies are more often than not triggered by pollen from trees, grass and other plants thriving in the summer sun. Ragweed, which can travel for hundreds of miles from its original location, is the most common trigger. Combined with summer air pollution, those sneeze triggers can become downright oppressive.
Add humidity like we’ve had in the area over the past month, and tissue sales have probably set records – it’s forced more of inside where mold spores and dust mites thrive during the summer months, triggering more allergies and more sneezing.
As bad as your sneezing has been, it could be worse: According to the Guinness World Records book, the longest sneezing fit ever recorded happened to British subject Donna Griffiths, who started her sneezing fit on Jan. 13, 1981. She enjoyed her first sneeze-free day again on Sept. 16, 1983, after 978 days and more than a million achoos in just the first year. She lost count after that.
Here are a few more sneezing snippets to impress your friends:
- Sneezes start in the nerves
We’re all wired differently, though, so triggers can be as diverse. If you’re on the verge of a sneeze but can’t quite complete the deal, plucking an eyebrow hair may stimulate the nerves near the nasal passage and result in a sneeze. Others can achieve the same result by plucking a nose hair. - It’s quite complex
When your brain signals it’s time to sneeze, it fires off a signal to close your throat, eyes and mouth. Chest muscles contract while throat muscles relax and air is forced out your nose and mouth. - Some sneezing is hereditary
Others trying to force that sneeze need only to look into a bright light. These people even have a special name: photics. Photics (from the Greek word for “light”) inherit this trait from their parents, and one in three people have it. - “Bless you” is nice, but the reason behind it is false
It’s said that we say “bless you” because it was once thought your heart stops when you sneeze, and the blessing was in celebration of escaping death’s grasp. Turns out, though your chest contracts and blood flow is momentarily constricted, your heart does not stop. Scientists: They’ll study anything.
- If you could sneeze with your eyes open, nothing will happen
Another myth busted. The pressure from a sneeze would be nowhere near that required to shoot your eyeballs out of your head, as the old wives’ tale goes.
Sneezes do pack a punch, though. Sneezes have been clocked at more than 100 miles per hour. Again, scientist will study anything.
