Why is it that...?!
Question:
Why is it that...?
...when you look up at the sky or close to the sun you sneeze?
It happens to me all the time when i do that, but why?
8 hours ago
well it only happens to me when i stay inside for a long time and when i get out i squint my eyes then sneeze. i always thought it was to get used to the light.
Answers:
This is an important question! There a lot of things that people say they do that they don’t really do. I personally do not sneeze when I look at the sun, and for a long time I thought this was a myth. But I am guessing that you are a sun-sneezer from your question. It seems that some people really do sneeze when they look at the sun, or actually at any bright light (there is nothing special about the sun). This has been recognized in medical journals for at least 40 years, and is called different things, including the "photic sneeze reflex" and even the "ACHOO syndrome". In a few instances the reflex has been documented by shining bright lights at people to make them sneeze, so it probably really does happen.
The thing is, the sun does not make most people sneeze. The best estimates are that only about 25% of people (i.e. 1 in 4) are sun-sneezers, and even sun-sneezers don’t do it most of the time. Other studies suggest that sun-sneezers might have inherited the trait in a dominant fashion from their parents (which means that if only one parent was a sneezer, they would pass the trait on to half of their kids). The problem with these estimates is that they generally rely on asking people if they sun-sneeze, and if their parents do. This is VERY unreliable. People who sun-sneeze tend to assume everyone does, and people who don’t sun-sneeze have often never even considered the possibility!!