I am one of 18-35% of the human population with a photic sneeze reflex! If I step out of a dark building into full bright sunlight, it makes me sneeze. It always has. When I was a kid, I used to think I was just weird somehow, but seemingly, it isn’t so rare.
First documented in work attributed to Aristotle, solar sneezes are apparently a genetic thing. The nerve responsible for sneezes (believed to be the trigeminal nerve) has a close association in some people with the optic nerve. As a result, if you overstimulate your optic nerve (by suddenly stepping into bright sunlight, for instance) it also stimulates your trigeminal, making you sneeze. How curious.
I always seem to end up reading random things while I’m waiting for computers to come back online…
Re: One reason . . .
Haha! Brilliant! :)
One reason . . .
Someone wrote into New Scientist once to ask why this happened. Someone else answered: “Photons get up your nose!”
Oh definitely. There’s nothing ore infuriating than losing a sneeze!
I experience something like that too, but mine is very weak. I don’t usually sneeze when I step out into the sunlight, but if I’m losing a sneeze, it helps to stare at a bright light ;)