Anna Hartz
Winter is here, and many people in the northern hemisphere are sitting at home with cold symptoms, boxes of tissues, and sore noses.
Some sneeze once and move on with their day. Others sneeze in a long chain that seems to follow a personal pattern. One of those people is Christel, who wrote in to Videnskab to ask why she always sneezes three times in a row.
A Professor’s Theory
To answer her question, researchers who work with smell, taste, and the nose were asked for help. One of them is clinical professor Therese Ovesen from Aarhus University. She laughed when she heard the question. She had recently experienced an unusual sneeze attack herself. She sneezed again and again. She says it may have been around 40 times.
She had never done that before. She first thought she had inhaled dust. Soon after, she became ill with flu. The experience made her think more about why some people sneeze far more than others. She has a theory.
Before we get to the number of sneezes, it helps to know what a sneeze actually is. A sneeze is triggered when something irritates the tiny hairs and a special nerve inside the nose. This can be dust, pollen, perfume, vinegar, or simply a virus. The nerve involved is called the trigeminal nerve. When it reacts, the body fires off a sneeze to clear the irritation.
Is It the Size?
When someone has a cold, the lining of the nose swells. The cells in the nose create extra mucus. This mucus irritates the nerve even more. That irritation pushes the body to sneeze again.
Doctors say the shape of the nose does not decide how many times someone sneezes. It is not about narrow or wide nasal passages. It is an automatic reflex. The key seems to be sensitivity. Some people simply have nerves in the nose that react faster and keep reacting until the irritation settles. That can mean several sneezes in a row.
Researchers also point out that people may not remember the times they only sneeze once. It is possible the pattern feels fixed even when it is not. But one thing is certain. A sneeze cannot really be forced. It comes when it wants to. And for some people, it comes more than once.
Sources: Videnskab
