By Sara Seibel
Everyone has tested out a sneeze myth at least once in his or her life or has at least heard of one. But are the myths true or just another fabrication made up by society?
Sneezing is the body’s way of expelling the irritants from the nose or throat. They are involuntary and often happen without warning. Without sneezes, getting sick would be much more common.
“Sneezing makes me feel relieved because I know I just released a lot of bad germs away from my body,” Janelle Rafanan, sophomore, said.
Many people want to stop this “burst of release.” Countless websites such as WikiHow, Enkivillage, and LetHow all give their advice to stop a sneeze from coming.
Some solutions are to pinch the top of the nose, blurt out a random word like “grapefruit,” press the tongue against the mouth palate, or tickle the roof of the mouth.
A poll of random students put these solutions on the spot.
One hundred students were asked if the “myths” above worked for them. Tallying up the results, 62 students marked ‘NO,’ and 38 marked ‘YES.’ The ones who said yes were asked what myth actually worked for them, and most of them said blurting out a random word.
According to WikiHow, this could be because spouting something absurd distracts the brain and causes the mind to “forget the sneeze.”
“I find that the solutions don’t work for me, and I end up sneezing either way,” Eliza Scott, senior, said.
Instead of relying on tricky methods to prevent fellow classmates from getting sick this season, safely release a sneeze into the inside of the elbow and feel the relief that goes along with it.
