Sneezing Myths and Facts

Why do we sneeze?

Ans: The medical term for sneezing is “sternutatory reflex”. Sneezing places a lot of stress on the body and air pressure is also place on the eyes. Sneezing is stimulated by a tickle in the nose. It helps us to clear germs and bacteria in our nose, at the same time, take in oxygen. Sneezing is something we have no control over.

Myths and Facts of Sneezing

People believe that sneezing has so much pressure that it pops your eyes out and may be deadly while others think that it is just a reflex and some people can even sneeze with their eyes open. Others think that we close our eyes when we sneeze because our body wants to protect our eyes from the germs and bacteria released from our nose by the powerful sneeze.

So... which belief is true?

The website http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112390/sneezing.htm feels that sneezing is a reflex and so is our eyes and that we have no control on whether we can close our eyes or not when we sneeze.

It feels that people who do not have reflex can sneeze with their eyes open while others try to close their eyes to prevent their eyes from popping out.

It also feels that "Your eyes don't really pop out" when we sneeze.

This website disagrees with the fact that people close their eyes to prevent the germs and bacteria which is released from the nose after sneeze from affecting the eyes. It feels that our eyes is constantly in contact with germs and bacteria all the time.

The website http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/22468 has comments of many internet users.

One strong quote from this website is "It is unclear, but scientists theorize that we close our eyes to protect them. We may be protecting our eyes from microorganisms and particles from our sneezes," said Dr. Bonnie Henderson, director of comprehensive ophthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Others feel that it is a natural human instinct to prevent our eyes from popping out.

Another user feels that the air pressure our eyes experience is not strong enough to pop our eyes out.

In contrast, a different user states the evidence of Adolf Hitler making use of sneezing as a torture tactic by forcing his prisoners' eyes to open with toothpicks and sprinkling pepper under their noses to make them sneeze. This made their eyes partially pop out.

Many different people have many views and evidence for the fact of closing our eyes when we sneeze. However, which do you think is true? A warning to readers: Please do not try sneezing with your eyes open as it may really just pop your eyes out.

Reflection/Feelings:
I feel that sneezing would really pop our eyes out as it is strongly supported by the torture tactic Adolf Hitler used on his prisoners. As this is most probably recorded in history, it is more truthful and reliable. Like what my primary school science teacher said, sneezing is a kind of reflex which is so strong that it may pop your eyes out. I did not believe her initially but believed her after researching. Although there are other views on the facts about sneezing, I feel that the most convincing one would be that if you open your eyes when sneezing, your eyes would pop out. It is actually up to individual's beliefs and no one really knows the fact behind it. Nevertheless, sneezing would definitely benefits our body.

Source:http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/22468
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112390/sneezing.htm