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Pollen, Cranial Nerve #5, Thomas Edison, and 'bless you' all have one thing in common. They all trigger fascinating bits of information about an everyday irritation--sneezing. There are scores of interesting stories about the sneeze--some fact, some fiction. To start, sneezing is a necessary evil. It's your body's way of expelling irritating substances from your nose. But why do irritants--say, an allergen like pollen--make you sneeze? And how does your body make it happen? Pollen and the anatomy of the sneezeAs pollen enters your body through the nose, it sensitizes the immune system, which produces certain antibodies. The antibodies form an immune response by attaching to mast cells found in tissues. But pollen is relentless. It enters your body again and attaches to the antibodies, causing histamine and other chemicals to be released from the mast cells. The outcome: an allergic reaction is triggered--resulting in sneezing. But what is the mechanism behind the sneeze? What is your body doing? A network of nerves called Cranial Nerve #5 detects the invader. It sends messages to the brain that something is irritating the lining of the nose. An automatic "reflex" circuit hooks up the message to an outgoing pathway that starts the sneeze. The sneeze involves dozens of muscles in the face, chest, and abdomen, whose reflex forces air out rapidly through the nose. The acceleration of air causes the pressure of the nose to drop, drawing out excess mucus from the sinuses. And it all happens in the same sequence every time. The routine is hardwired into the brain and spinal cord--which is why it's nearly impossible to suppress a sneeze once the process has started. Did Thomas Edison invent the sneeze, too? No. Mr. Edison didn't. But he did patent one of the earliest motion picture cameras, called the kinetograph. And what was one of Edison's first films? A man sneezing. On February 2, 1893, a laboratory worker made his movie debut acting out his sneeze. But it didn't end there. Edison pushed the envelope of filmmaking when he recorded the sound of the sneeze on a phonograph and played it back with the film. The experiment proved to be a complete success. Is "bless you" a soul saver? Let's find the origin. "Bless you." We all say it. But have you ever stopped to think about this common practice? Its origin? Whether the folklore about it is true? Some people claimed that calling out "bless you" was the desire to safeguard the sneezer's soul from evil spirits. Others thought that the sneeze acted as the expulsion of a demon. For many, sneezing had an association with a dire disease. It was thought that if you sneezed, you didn't have long to live. Therefore "bless you" was a nice way of saying, "Take good care of him, God." Contrary to the other explanations, some folks thought sneezing was a sign of good luck. History reveals the earliest record that someone noticed this odd custom. Roman writer and encyclopedist Pliny the Elder wrote in 77 A.D., "Why is it that we salute a person when he sneezes, an observation which Tiberius Caesar, they say, the most unsociable of men, as we all know, used to exact when riding in his chariot?" Unfortunately 77A.D. isn't early enough to lift the veil of mystery. No one could honestly know the definitive answer as to why we say "bless you." The origin is undetermined, but one thing is for sure: it's polite!" Copyright GlaxoSmithKline. Used with permission.
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