Sun sneezing
I knew it wasn't just me! I've always wondered why the sun, particularly after I've been indoors for an extended period of time, makes me sneeze. It happens almost every day when I walk outside into the sunlight and face in the direction of the sun. Most people I've asked had never experienced it...
I finally remembered to look it up! It's a condition called "photic sneeze reflex", found in about one in four people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photic_sneeze_reflex
And for the less technical explanation, http://www.dankarran.com/sunsneezing/.
I finally remembered to look it up! It's a condition called "photic sneeze reflex", found in about one in four people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photic_sneeze_reflex
And for the less technical explanation, http://www.dankarran.com/sunsneezing/.
posted by Anthony Stoddart @ 5:26 PM
4 Comments:
At Tue Feb 20, 05:02:00 AM,
Unknown said…
Welcome to the club! It took me ages to finally get around to looking up why the sun made me sneeze, but it was a relief when I discovered I wasn't alone in being a photic sneezer.
At Tue Feb 20, 09:25:00 AM,
Lisa said…
the things I learn reading blogs!
At Thu Mar 15, 06:16:00 PM,
Unknown said…
I'm a photic sneezer, and I used to think everyone was, but then people started saying things like, "have you got a cold?" whenever I sneezed at the sun, and when I explained it to them and asked didn't it happen to them, they always looked at me like I'm some kind of weirdo. I've never met a (confessing) photic sneezer in real life and this bothers me. For this reason I doubt the statistic that 1 in 4 people are photic sneezers. My theory is the researchers used an extremely bright light in their experiments, resulting in a higher positive rate, when in fact maybe only 5% or less of the general population regularly sneeze at the sun.
At Fri Aug 10, 09:27:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
I think Matt is right about the percentage of photic sneezers in the population being overestimated.
It may be because most tests have relied on self-reporting, which can give very biased results. It may also be a result of people who use the sun to bring off a "stuck sneeze" claiming to be photic sneezers. This is probably more common than those of us who are caused to sneeze by being exposed to strong light. And if it happens regularly - for example daily - it's pretty uncommon, and I would think even less than 5% of the population.
It runs in my family, so I have observed it all my life, but even at school everyone thought I was a freak as I would sneeze every time we came out into the sun.
Have a look at the website some of us "pioneers" put together in the early days of the web:
http://www.photic-sneezing.fr.st/
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