HOWL HERITAGE

They’ll come at any time of day; in the middle of a meeting, a presentation, a stage debut, and they’ll come in fits of threes. Some people hold it in, some people let everything spray. Some people squeak when they sneeze; for others it takes more volume to get everything out.

Heritage student Becky Savage has one of those recognizably loud sneezes.

“Once in freshman year,” she tells us, “I was in the computer lab during 6th period. I sneezed and my science teacher opened the door to her classroom. Everyone in her class had heard me and they laughed and yelled ‘Bless you!’” Her sneeze is so loud, people used to yell “Bless you!” just to match the volume of her sternutation.

Sneezes happen when an irritant tickles you nose hairs, but it takes teamwork for a sneeze to happen. Read more →

Cigarette/cigar smoke, like dust or allergens, acts as an irritant to the inner lining of the nose. The brain gets the signal to sneeze, and voila.

There are two types of secondhand smoke: side-stream smoke comes from the lighted end of a cigarette or pipe or cigar. It’s the legit stuff. Mainstream smoke is exhaled from the smoker.

Secondhand smoke has adverse effects on the heart, can cause other serious issues like bronchitis, damage to blood vessels, increased risk of a heart attack, and can trigger serious asthma attacks. It contains just as many cancer-causing chemicals as “firsthand” smoke.

To some, the cute and cuddly face of a puppy dog cures any sour day. To others, it’s just a reason for sneezin’.

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, “Allergies to pets with fur or feathers are common, especially among people who have other allergies or asthma. 15 percent to 30 percent of people with allergies have allergic reactions to cats and dogs.” 6 out of 10 people come in contact with cats and dogs, and on average there are 4 pets for every 10 people, so there’s little escape from these cute and cuddly sneeze-breeders. Cat allergies are more common than dog allergies, (as if there needs to be any more reason for dogs to be better than cats).

An allergy is a hypersensitivity of the immune system, to where it reacts negatively to normally harmless substances, like pet dander. A common reaction to allergens is sneezing. The pet dander in the air sticks to the inner lining of the nose, and the body reads it as an irritant—and lets the sneeze ring true.

Ever felt like sneezing when you looked up at the sky, lying on your back, or looked at a bright light and just had to let an achoo rip? This phenomenon has stumped a lot of great minds, like Aristotle and Francis Bacon. Modern science has dubbed this bright-light-inspired mucus “The Photic Sneeze Reflex”. We put HHS’ Keaton Lindner under the bright lights to find out.

Scientists still aren’t completely sure why light triggers this effect in certain people. The current theory is that the optic nerve, responsible for dilating and constricting the pupils crosses signals with a nerve, which controls facial movements and sneezing. The trigeminal nerve reads the misfire as an irritant in the nose, and lets a sneeze rip as a response. It looks to be genetic, with a 50% chance of parents passing the fluke on to their kids depending on their genetic makeup.