Back when I was a kid I was told that if you are caught with a sneeze that just doesn’t want to happen, stare at a light and your sneeze troubles will be solved. And it worked! For most of my life, if I have ever had that itch in my nose I would just look at the sun or a lamp and sneeze. It’s easily one of the top conveniences I have in my life.
In an effort to do my part in the fight against lingering sneezes, I’ve been sharing this secret with my friends, which has been met with skepticism. Some of my friends are just like me, bright lights totally help them sneeze. Others don’t feel it at all and just get mad at me.
Does light actually help certain people sneeze? Why only some and not others?
Yep. There is a term for it - photo something, of course. Often, people grow out of it, but apparently not everyone. My son was the source of our discovery of the phenomenon. Whenever we’d take him outside, as a newborn, he’d sneeze, but only if the sun was bright. He did grow out of it in a matter of months. Yep, it’s real.
Some people sneeze when exposed to bright sunlight. Apparently there is some kind of cross-talk bewteen optic nerves and other nerves that can cause this.
For about two months a year (one in the spring and one in the fall), I sneeze every time I turn a particular corner on my drive to work in the morning.
My “you are making that up” friends are furious right now, thank you! I feel like this only happens when I have a cold, I’ll have to pay attention to see if I sneeze during bright days when I’m not sick.
I often sneeze when entering a brightly lit area (like going outside on a sunny day). If I feel a sneeze coming on, I’ll turn to look at a bright light to help it - works most of the time.
yup, it’s real.
An ophtalmologist told me it’s tears tickling the nerves that trigger the sneeze reflex. I sometimes get the same effect inhaling water from the ocean on a wipeout.