• Question: why do we sneeze, and what causes us to sneeze? Also, why do we sneeze more when we're sick?

    Asked by mwilliams to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 20 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      You ask some fun questions mwilliams. Sorry to be slow in answering. Sneezing is a way of getting rid of particles from our noses and mouths. Some viruses spread through sneezes, so it is possible that the viruses that made us sneeze were more successful than other viruses, and they’ve gradually evolved to be better and better at making us need to sneeze.

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      It’s our body expelling dust and irritating particles form our nose… Dust and particles get trappped on the hairs up our nose, when something irritaes the iside of our nose we sneeze.

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      Hey mwilliams! A lot of stuff enters our bodies through our nose – its like air traffic central control! With all that air wooshing through our nose all the time we need some way of getting rid of dust and other irritants that might get in there. Viola! Biology invents the sneeze. Probably we sneeze more when we are sick because its a good way for our body to get rid of toxins by carrying them out of our body in mucus. There’s a cool article on SciAm here that quickly outlines why we sneeze here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-do-we-sneeze

      Neat questions!!!

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      Hi mwilliams! Thanks for the question!!

      The others have answered why we sneeze – but why do we sneeze more when we are sick?
      Normally, when a person has a cold, the nasal passages are blocked. Sneezing clears up these passages, so that fresh air can pass into the system. In some cases, there can be allergens (bad guys), which need to be eliminated from the body. The body does so through sneezing. What about coughing? Like sneezing clears the nasal passages, coughing clears dust and other harmful particles from the windpipe and lungs. Although, it is true that you can cough whenever you want to, the reflex cough is an important defense mechanism of the body. If you don’t sneeze or cough, there are chances of you developing infections and also you will allow chemical irritants to damage your airways and lung tissues. So we sneeze when we are sick, to get rid of the unwelcome germs from the body.

      Sometimes looking at a bright light will make you sneeze – this is due to crossover talk between neurons in the brain I’m told – but Kimberley might be able to give more details!! 🙂

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