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Sneezing When You Look At the Sun - Photic Sneeze Reflex
August 21st 2006 01:06
Sneezing When You Look At the Sun - Photic Sneeze Reflex
Many stimuli can trigger a sneeze, such as colds, allergies, cold air, humidity, irritants such as pepper, eating too much, cooling certain parts of the skin, sexual excitement, hair pulling, shivering, eyebrow plucking, and as you’ll find here - exposure to bright sunlight.
The Photic Sneeze Reflex (PSR) is otherwise known as sun-sneezing, photogenic sneezing or ACHOO -
Autosomal dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst. It occurs in about 25% of people and is a sneezing reflex that occurs when you move into the sunlight or other bright objects. This reflex can be inherited from your parents.
Scientists have not yet discovered why this happens, but it might reflect a "crossing" of pathways in the brain, between the normal reflex of the eye in response to light and the sneezing reflex. This may also be the reason behind the sneeze that sometimes occurs when plucking your eyebrows.
One of the consequences of the PSR include the danger to drivers when emerging from dim light, such as a tunnel, into full sunlight. Diverting your eyes from the road even for a fraction of a second is hazardous, but if you succumb to the PSR, it's unfortunately unavoidable.
Image unrestricted to copyright.
References - Sci-Am & Mad-Sci
Many stimuli can trigger a sneeze, such as colds, allergies, cold air, humidity, irritants such as pepper, eating too much, cooling certain parts of the skin, sexual excitement, hair pulling, shivering, eyebrow plucking, and as you’ll find here - exposure to bright sunlight.
The Photic Sneeze Reflex (PSR) is otherwise known as sun-sneezing, photogenic sneezing or ACHOO -
75% of us don't have a sneezing problem with the sun.
Scientists have not yet discovered why this happens, but it might reflect a "crossing" of pathways in the brain, between the normal reflex of the eye in response to light and the sneezing reflex. This may also be the reason behind the sneeze that sometimes occurs when plucking your eyebrows.
One of the consequences of the PSR include the danger to drivers when emerging from dim light, such as a tunnel, into full sunlight. Diverting your eyes from the road even for a fraction of a second is hazardous, but if you succumb to the PSR, it's unfortunately unavoidable.
Image unrestricted to copyright.
References - Sci-Am & Mad-Sci
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