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Why do people sneeze?

Posted on 10. Mar, 2010 by JohnM in Health

Sneezing is a natural process triggered by irritation in epithelium lining of nose. It is expressed in the form of sudden expiration of breathe with some loud in some people. There could be many reasons behind why do people sneeze including viral infection, pollen grains, perfumes, irritating smells, cold air, smoke or other allergens etc. No matters what is the reason for creating sensational trigger in nose lining, once it is irritated person has to sneeze to eliminate this disturbing feeling.

Why do people sneeze involves a whole mechanism of reflex activity during which epithelium nerve endings stimulated to sent a message to brain in the form of sensation. This sensational impulse is carried through sensory nerves which informs the brain about sudden feeling and makes it to trigger a reflex action. In order to create a rapid air expulsion high pressure is built by closing vocal cords. When required pressure is built, these vocal cords are opened at once to release air in the form of sneezing. This sudden and rapid outflow of air through respiratory tract causes to expel irritants out of body with a pressure. This process of pressure building and air expulsion carries on until all irritants are expelled out of respiratory apparatus. Once all irritating elements are expelled, sneezing stops automatically as it started automatically.

During sneezing process various chemicals are produced by the inflammatory cells present in nasal lining. These cells include eosinophils and mast cells which secret chemicals like histamine and leukotrienes to self start this process. If an infected person sneezes it causes the spread of viral infection. Therefore it is advisable to keep other away from yourself if you are suffering from such condition. Each droplet of mucus contains countless viral particles which can easily infect other healthy persons breathing in same environmental conditions.

There is an interesting myth about sneezing that nobody can sneeze with his or her eyes open. But there are a lot of people that can do it with their eyes open so they absolutely falsify this myth related with the physiological process of sneezing. They say though it seems to be a reflex action to close eyes during sneezing but if a person has a control over itself then he could certainly be able to sneeze with his eyes open. Is it true or not it could be another matter of discussion but in short why do people sneeze is just because of nose lining irritation which ends in sudden expulsion of air with all irritants out of nasal passage.

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Tags: chemicals, cold air, eosinophils, featured, histamine, irritating smells, leukotrienes, mast cells, nasal lining, other allergens, perfumes, pollen grains, smoke, sneeze, viral infection, why sneeze