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Feeling that oh-so-irritating sensation in your nose that you just have to sneeze, like – now!? Read on to learn how to make yourself sneeze in not just one, but twelve different ways!
Sneezing is often believed to be an involuntary action. Generally, people understand that merely our nose and throat are involved in this blaring reflex, that is, sneezing.
But the process behind a sneeze is much diverse, and it consists of a lot more than our nose and throat and our brain and muscles.
Also sneezing is a normal biological 1response that happens when the mucus membranes in the nose are irritated. This is usually due to triggers like allergies or spicy food, or illnesses like the common cold.
However, sometimes you can feel a sneeze coming but cannot get it out – we’ve all been through that. So, how to make yourself sneeze?
To sort through this, read about how you can induce yourself into sneezing instantly.
How to Make Yourself Sneeze?
For instance, when your body cannot sneeze involuntarily, you can opt for a few ways to get that sneeze out. Read the following ways to know how to make yourself sneeze.
1. Breathe in Cold Air
One of the ways through which you can make yourself sneeze 2is to inhale cold air. You can do it by either getting out in the cold windy weather or breathing in some cold air from the refrigerator right next to you.
Cold air works because your nose’s lining faces some irritation when the cold air hits it, and hence, you sneeze.
2. Feather
This method is easily the most efficient one when searching for how to make yourself sneeze.
A tickling sensation in your nose can make you sneeze as well. The go-to option for this is a light feather. Other than this, you can use anything light and tickle your nose internally. Take care about not poking anything sharp or blunt.
Psst! You can also use a fake feather and save yourself from hunting down a natural one.
3. Look at Light
Another method to make sneeze yourself is to look at bright light immediately. This method works best when you feel a sneeze stuck somewhere and cannot get it out.
So, how to make yourself sneeze looking at a light? So, the next time when you feel like sneezing but cannot sneeze out, immediately look at the bright light that will help you sneeze directly – be it a stark LED or even the brightly shining sun.
The action of sneezing when you look at light is termed a photic sneeze reflex (PSR3). This is because the trigeminal nerve is present right around the optic nerve.
4. Roll a Tissue
This is an alternative to point number two, the feather. In this method, you roll a soft tissue into a pointed edge and move it up and down one nostril.
Make sure that you only tickle it and not do it vigorously, this method too helps trigger your trigeminal nerve.
5. Sniff Strong Smell
This method has been the reason for many unplanned sneezes for most of us. To sneeze easily with this method, you can take a quick whiff of any strong-smelling substance. Standard options include crushed red pepper, strong perfumes, ground black pepper, or smelling spices.
This works because when you sniff something which smells strongly, it triggers your nerve endings, which are servers located in your mucous membrane.
6. Rub the Roof of your Mouth
Rub the roof of your mouth with your tongue’s tip placed on the roof and then find a specific spot that will cause a sneeze reflex. Such tongue placement will help induce a sneeze if done gently and with patience.
This method is supported by the fact that the trigeminal nerve runs along your throat, and the acting of rubbing your tongue over it will cause you to sneeze.
7. Plucking Nostril/Eyebrow Hair
So far, with all the methods mentioned, the one thing that has been made clear is that to cause a sneeze reflexively, you need to stimulate the trigeminal nerve.
So, a method that works wonders but comes with some pain is plucking your eyebrow hair or nose hair. Plucking out nasal hair will stimulate the trigeminal nerve and cause you to sneeze.
8. Eat Some Dark Chocolate
While this may sound like a great way to sneeze for those who love dark chocolates, it works better and more efficiently for people who do not eat it as often.
An enjoyable way to sneeze yourself is to have a generous bite of delicious dark chocolate or anything which contains extra cocoa, for that matter.
This method may not necessarily work, but hey, what’s wrong with trying when you can eat chocolate?
9. Fizz it Up
Who knew fizzy drinks have benefits?
Get yourself a good bottle of a fizzy drink and pop it open. The carbon dioxide inhaled from a freshly opened carbonated drink will cause a tingling sensation in your nose. Even drinking a carbonated beverage may have the same effect.
10. Tilt your Head Back
This one is straightforward – gently tilt your head back when you can sense a sneeze coming in.
11. Massage your Nose
Slowly massage the bridge of your nose in the down direction to generate some response from the trigeminal nerve4. You can also gently pinch your nose – it varies from person to person.
12. Chew Gums
Preferably it would be best if you opted to chew on strong mint-flavoured gum. Chewing on minty gum will overstimulate the trigeminal nerve and will result in a sneeze.
These are a few simple ways that you can follow to help you sneeze.
Ever Wondered Why Sneezing Generates a Sense of Relief?
The action of sneezing involves your abdominal muscles, the back, throat, nose, and most importantly, your brain.
At the same time, sneezing also releases endorphins, which are chemicals that are released and then react with receptors in your brain, you may find that you sneeze more when temperatures are on the cooler side, so crank up the air conditioning or step outside on a cold day.
That’s because the explosive release of air through the nose and mouth which is a sneeze is a neurological process that usually starts with physical stimulation of the wide-ranging trigeminal nerve.
People may not have thought too deeply about the simple reflex of sneezing, but it is a vital activity that helps keep us healthy.
What Not to do When you Feel Like Sneezing?
Before delving into how to make yourself sneeze, let us discuss this first. While this article will majorly discuss how to make yourself sneeze, we must also cover what must not be done when you feel the urge to sneeze.
1. Never Hold a Sneeze in
The most important thing to keep in mind is to never attempt to hold a sneeze in and disrupt your nasal passage.
When done for a longer time, this will hurt your blood vessels and nerves in your nasal passage. It may even also end up bursting the nerves in the passage. So do not hold your sneeze let it out through your nasal passage.
2. Sneeze on a Tissue
During a cold or flu, sneezing may cause some burning sensation along your throat due to the presence of a cough. What you can do is, sneeze on a tissue and soothe your throat with some warm water.
Make sure to discard the used tissue, as sneezing is merely a reflex to kick out unwanted particles from your throat and nose.
3. Avoid Covering your Mouth and Nose
Another thing that we sneeze is covering our mouth and nose with our hands. Pull that hand away!
When you cover a sneeze with your hands, you are getting in contact with the germs your body was trying to get rid of. Thus use a napkin or handkerchief to cover your nose while sneezing.
7 Things in your Home Making you Sneeze
So, how to make yourself sneeze easily at home?
Sneezing continuously and frequently is also not good. This is a sign of an unhealthy and unhygienic environment, so we are listing down 11 such things in your home which is making you sneeze non-stop.
1. Scented Candles
Surely, everyone wants their home to smell amazing for that one lights up scented candles or uses room sprays and diffusers. But do you know, all these artificial smells are causing a serious threat to your respiratory organs?
Home fragrances might smell good but can be unhealthy for your lungs. Those scented candles can be the cause of your sneezes. Some also have allergies due to artificial smells. Instead, you can open your window and let fresh air come in.
2. Vacuum Cleaner
We use a vacuum cleaner to get rid of dust and other germs, but if a vacuum cleaner goes unmaintained for a long time then it will surely ruin the environment around you by spreading pollutants and causing you to sneeze.
3. Cold Air
Cold air can make you sneeze. Your nasal passage may be irritated by the cold air and thus it can uncontrollably sneeze. So wrap up a muffler around your neck to cover your nose area to stop the cold air, or you can also wear a mask.
4. Vase of Flowers
We love keeping vases of flowers in our home. But do check twice if you are repellant to some typical types of flowers.
As those flowers may look beautiful but their smell might disturb your nasal passage causing you to sneeze. Rather, put neutral flowers like dahlia in your vase.
5. Kid’s Soft Toys
Soft toys or stuffed animals of your kids have dist mites within them, which attracts all the dust and germs of the environment, this, when contacted, is not only unhygienic for your kid but will also cause sneezes and thus they require regular washes to keep them dust free.
6. A Bright and Sunny Room
A bright and sunny room in your house can also cause you to sneeze this is known as a photic sneeze which is triggered by bright light.
7. Your Bathmat
Mould grows on your wet bathmat of yours which may also trigger your respiratory system causing you to sneeze.
How to Stop Sneezing?
Now that you know the 12 ways how to make yourself sneeze, then you must also know how to stop sneezing. As everything must have an on-off button and excess of anything is never beneficial.
So, check out the list of ways how to stop your aaa-choo!
1. Find your Triggers:
The first thing to explore when searching for how to make yourself sneeze is this. Know what makes you sneeze badly. Is it dust, pollen spicy foods, or bright lights? Once you know what makes you sneeze, you can stop sneezing by avoiding the same.
2. See if You are Allergic:
You have to check and treat your allergy. Commonly, most people have a dust allergy, when they are in contact with dust particles they will sneeze non-stop and might also catch a cold the same.
Seasonal allergies are also quite common, so once you check on your allergy then you can get it treated by your doctor.
3. From the Exterior Environment:
If you are prone to allergies from external and rigorous environments like cement, chemical, coal, and metals, then you must avoid working or being in such places.
People intolerant in these places are bound to catch colds and have sinus problems.
4. Avoid Bright Lights:
If you suffer from photic sneezes then you must avoid bright lights and stay in dim lights. Stepping out in the sun can also bring uncontrollable sneezing, so wear polarized glasses when out in the sun.
5. Avoid Eating too Much:
Did you know some people sneeze after large meals? This is named by a researcher as satiation. Thus to avoid satiation, chew your food slowly and eat small meals after intervals.
6. Blow Your Nose:
Sneezes often happen if you have any irritating substance stuck in your nose, in that case, blow out your nose and get rid of the irritant which is causing you to sneeze.
7. Pinching your Nose:
This is a very useful way to stop sneezing. When you feel you have sneezed out enough and now it is uncontrollable, then you can simply pinch out the nose at the top to stop sneezing.
Final Note
Blowing your nose can help clear your nasal cavity free from the irritant, but some people are extremely sensitive to certain smells such as hot peppers and other spices and have an allergic reaction to pollen or something which does not suit them.
By now, I hope you know all the tips and tricks on how to make yourself sneeze. The mentioned methods can help you to start sneezing when you can feel a sneeze stuck somewhere, but the fact remains that different method works for different people.
There you go, these were the various ways that can help you understand how to make yourself sneeze!
FAQs
1. Is sneezing good for us?
Ans. Yes, sneezing is great for us. Sneezing throws the bacteria and viruses out of your system keeping you healthy. But if your sneeze uncontrollably, then that is an indication that you require special care as the bacteria and virus are still there in your body, in this case, you might want to see your doctor.
2. What do 3 sneezes mean?
Ans. 3 sneezes mean that someone is in love with you, which is a myth which might or might not happen.
3. Can sneezing rupture my eardrums?
Ans. Yes, it is possible that a hard sneeze can rupture your eardrums causing you to lose hearing.
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- Araya, Erika I., et al. “Trigeminal neuralgia: basic and clinical aspects.” Current neuropharmacology 18.2 (2020): 109-119. ↩︎
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