Sneezing quite a bit? It might not be a cold — it could just mean you are thinking about sex.
In the latest issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Dr. Mahmood Bhutta of John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England, said thinking sexy thoughts triggers bouts of sneezing in some people, the Asian News International reported Monday.
Bhutta typed the words “sneezing” and “sex” into Google and found people discussing the very same topic in Internet chat rooms.
According to Bhutta’s study, 17 people (both males and females) report sneezing immediately after thinking about sex. Three of those people said they sneeze after achieving an orgasm.
“I was surprised by how many people reported the same reflex in Internet chat rooms,” Bhutta said. “I think this reflex demonstrates evolutionary relics in the wiring of a part of the nervous system called the autonomic nervous system. This is the part beyond our control, which controls things like our heart rate and the amount of light let in by our pupils. Sometimes the signals in this system get crossed.”
Bhutta said it is possible the sneezing response could be genetic.
Click here to read more on this story from rediff.com.
Click here to read more on Bhutta’s study (subscription required).
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox