# BreastTopic1: Sneezing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 1999, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655 "1999-06-01T21:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 1999, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/1 "1999-06-01T21:46:00Z")
Ok, I understand, thanks to Unca Cecil why I sneeze when I step into sunlight. But does anyone know why the sneezing then makes my nipples erect? I’m female and not (unlike Jennifer Aniston) prone to frequent nipple erectness. What gives? I have no idea why one would cause the other. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/2 "1999-06-02T01:28:00Z")
Hang on Gracie, I’m bringing the pepper over! * * * “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Hunter Thompson ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/3 "1999-06-02T01:32:00Z")
My kind of humour 😉 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/4 "1999-06-02T01:54:00Z")
Gracie, try yawning instead. Check it out; [snopes.simpletext.com](http://snopes.simpletext.com) Search “yawning”. have fun This has been discussed on another thread awhile back, but I don’t remember where. Be careful not to yawn and sneeze ay the same time. Too much of a good thing. 🙂 Peace, mangeorge * * * “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything” Mark Twain 1894 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/5 "1999-06-02T13:07:00Z")
[q]Search “yawning”. have fun This has been discussed on another thread awhile back, but I don’t remember where.[/q] Actually, I was the culprit (if you were thinking of the thread I’m thinking of). Wanted to know the answer to the age-old questions: “Why is yawning a communicable disease?” and “Why simply thinking, reading or speaking about yawning makes you yawn?” If memory serves, Unca Cece had already tackled the subject, but with limited success. And judging from the _lukewarm_ response I got here, either our brother and sister Dopers are stumped (definite impossibility), or couldn’t care less (definite probability) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/6 "1999-06-02T16:08:00Z")
This one has me stumped because I’ve never observed that sneezing makes my nipples erect. I mean, it might happen, and I just don’t notice, but it’s never been a concern of mine. The only possible explanation I could see would be that the jerky motion of sneezing causes excessive abrasion between skin and clothing, causing irritation and subsequent nipple erection. Just a guess, though. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/7 "1999-06-02T19:17:00Z")
“Do you have a cold, or are you just happy to see me?” * * * The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/8 "1999-06-02T19:29:00Z")
I know this is kinda dumb but in Penthouse magazine many years back they asked Xavier how to make nipples stick out. And she said to practice something called lock-nip-tit-out and it was done by holding the breath. So, in other words, the force of air inside may force them out. Bear in mind some people have inverted nipples so you don’t see them. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/9 "1999-06-02T19:35:00Z")
I’m with Eris on this – never hoid of it. I’ve never heard of being able to control your nipples, either, so that you’d be able to make 'em stay out, so to speak. I’ve always thought of it as being like goosebumps, in the sense that I know certain factors that cause ‘protrusion,’ but I can’t control it. And I’ve never heard of any one who can, though it’s unlikely to be something people chat about at parties. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/10 "1999-06-02T20:28:00Z")
## A few years ago, one of my health teachers explained that a sneeze is actually a microorgasm. The next time someone sneezes, instead of saying “bless you,” one might consider “How was that for you?” “[He] beat his fist down upon the table and hurt his hand and became so further enraged… that he beat his fist down upon the table even harder and hurt his hand some more.” – Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/11 "1999-06-02T21:27:00Z")
[[A few years ago, one of my health teachers explained that a sneeze is actually a microorgasm.]] What a strange idea. I’d like to hear the physiological explanation for that one. Wasn’t there some crony of Freud’s who believed that the nose and genitals were connected in some way? In some subconscious psychological way, I mean. Excuse the image. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 1999, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/12 "1999-06-02T22:34:00Z")
I’d actually heard that a sneeze was a tenth of an orgasm, not a millionth (micro) of one. This was from a friend who went to MIT, and told me that was the common wisdom there. I’ve always thought MIT grads were a little off, though… Come to think of it, my wife commonly sneezes in sets of 3 or more–I’ll have to ask her opinion :). Rick ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 1999, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/13 "1999-06-03T00:20:00Z")
I don’t think I’ve heard that a sneeze _is_ an orgasm, it’s just the only other nervous reaction that comes close to resembling one, and I think the mechanics behind both phenomena are still unknown. As for sneezing making nipples erect, yes, that’s happened to me, too, but it’s usually accompanied by goosebumps and shivering or shuddering so I thought it was all related. Hmm… but why do I get goosebumps and shudder when I sneeze and I’m not sick? Probably akin to the goosebumps and shudder that occurs when “a goose walks over my grave.” But what causes _that_?? * * * “I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 1999, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breasttopic1-sneezing/655/14 "1999-06-06T18:58:00Z")
Sorry guys, I don’t feel satisfied. I still don’t feel like I’ve gotten a good answer. I searched the old threads (btw, you’d be surprised how commonly the phrase “nothing to sneeze at” is used in non-sneeze-related threads) and looked in my SD books and still don’t feel like I have a good answer. I don’t always get goosebumps, just sometimes, but I still have the somewhat embarassing nipple problem every time I achoo.