The "How About Yelling Out 'Pickles'"! Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in the dark, waiting along with quite a few others for the movie to begin.  Then, it hit me; that little tickle in my nose, knowing that I was going to have to sneeze.  And, for those readers that know me quite well, you know the volume of my sneeze.  And, at times it is more than one sneeze.  I try to sneeze into my handkerchief or a tissue if at all possible, but sometimes the crook of my arm is all that is handy.  Seems that its one of those annoying things that I, or perhaps you, have to deal with.  

So, exactly why do we have to sneeze and is there anything we can to to prevent or stop it.  The main reason we sneeze is to remove irritants from the nasal passage. Irritants such as dust, dirt, pollen, smoke or even cat or dog hair could become stuck in our nose.  Blowing it out works best, but at times we don't get it out fast enough and that's when our brain takes over and sends a command to our body to sneeze it out.  When you sneeze you automatically shut your eyes, your tongue moves to the roof of your mouth and your muscles contract to brace for the pressure of the sneeze.  This all happens in a matter of seconds.  Your tongue redirects the majority of the air through the nasal passage, but still leaves some air to come out through your mouth, much like an air pressure valve.  The force of air through the nose clears out anything, or is supposed to do so.  If not, another sneeze may happen immediately after.  Have you ever sneezed and shortly after, sneezed again?  Some people, when they sneeze, have a specific number of sneezes that they produce each time.  Could be when they sneeze, the amount of air going through the nose isn't as much as needed, thus another sneeze or two occurs.  And, did you ever notice that you sneeze more when you are sick?  Seems that the body's natural reaction to that sickness is to produce mucus to trap bacteria.  Once trapped, it has to expel it from the body and what better way then through a sneeze.  Also, the best way to spread that sickness is by sneezing, so you must remember to cover your nose!  Even when there aren't irritants or bacteria present in your nose which may make you sneeze, your nose produces mucus to catch irritants before they can get into your lungs.  To help rid the nose of that mucus you may have a random sneeze to reset your nasal passage.  Now, to get to the unexplained reasons people sneeze.  About one of every four people sneeze when they look into a bright light!  This is called photic sneeze reflex and is an inherited trait.  Seems the optical nerve causes the same sensation in your brain that an irritant does, thus leading to a sneeze.  Perhaps you are allergic to animals.  You too may sneeze even thought you normally wouldn't sneeze if not around animals.  Many people, when feeling a sneeze coming on, pinch their nose to avoid the sneeze.  Not a good idea!  All the bacteria and irritants that were supposed to exit the nose are still in the nose and can cause problems.  And finally, I read that some people believe if they say "pickles" when they feel a sneeze coming on, it will relieve the sneeze.  You gotta be kidding!  How idiotic is that...but, you know, that if it works for you, maybe I should give it a try the next time I'm at the movies and have the need of a loud sneeze.  Ether I'll sound stupid when they hear me yell out "pickles" or feel stupid if I actually let out a loud sneeze.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.