healthmedicinet

• Outgoing people make loud, explosive sneezes, according to US study
• Those who are shy will try and hold back, resulting in stifled expulsion
• Chicago neurologist Dr Alan Hirsch says sneezes ‘are like laughter’

By
David Gardner

PUBLISHED:

19:12 EST, 23 April 2013

|

UPDATED:

01:43 EST, 24 April 2013

The way we sneeze tells a lot about our personalities, according to an American study.

A loud, explosive sneeze is likely to come from an outgoing, demonstrative person while someone who’s shy will try and hold back, resulting in a stifled, Minnie-Mouse style expulsion, says neurologist Dr Alan Hirsch.

‘Sneezes are like laughter,’ he adds. ‘Some laughs are loud, some are soft. And it’s similar with sneezing. It will often be the same from youth onward in terms of what it sounds like.

Personalities: A loud, explosive sneeze is likely to come from an outgoing, demonstrative person while someone who’s shy will try and hold back, resulting in a stifled, Minnie-Mouse style expulsion (file picture)

‘It’s more of a psychological thing and represents the underlying personality or character structure,’ Dr Hirsch, also a psychiatrist and founder of the Smell Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, tells NBC in the US.

Sneezing is a reflex action caused when irritants such as germs, pollen and dust infiltrate the nose lining and the brain sends out a message to get rid of it, triggering a deep breath that gets held in the lungs, tightening the chest muscles and building pressure.

The tongue gets pushed against the roof of the mouth, forcing breath to rush out through the nose – all in the time it takes to go achoo!

‘I have world famous kitten sneezes,’ says Susan Frykholm, a 31-year-old multimedia sales specialist from Seattle, in the report. ‘I’m not trying to be cute but people usually start laughing at how ‘precious’ they are.’

‘Mine are like a revolutionary war cannon,’ adds Dan Fine, a 54-year-old IT consultant who is also from Seattle.

Tara Spicer, a 29-year-old copywriter from Washington, has her own reasons for her sneezing habits.

Achoo: Sneezing is a reflex action caused when irritants infiltrate the nose lining and the brain sends out a message to get rid of it, triggering a deep breath that gets held in the lungs, tightening the chest muscles

‘I’m a sneeze stifler. I’ve always pinched my nose to mute the noise. I think it’s a subconscious rebellion against my grandmother, who raised me much of my life, and took pride in her ear-shattering siren-sneeze,’ she says.

Others describe sneezes sounding like screams or in rapid succession.

‘In general, sneezing is an involuntary phenomenon, part of the body’s mechanism of defense, a way of clearing out bacteria or other agents that would be injurious,’ Dr Gordon Siegel, a Chicago ear, nose and throat doctor tells NBC.

‘That being said, you can control to a degree the way it comes out.’

Dr Siegel, an assistant clinical professor at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, tells how a friend used a colourful expression to punctuate his sneezes.

‘When he sneezes, he likes it to come out saying ‘horses***’ and he’s got it down,’ he says. ‘There is partial control of the final product.’

The experts say the bone structure of the face and shape of the nose may play a smaller role in the different sneezing styles.

But Dr Siegel insists: ‘What we perceive as the sneezing sound is not really affected significantly by the nose structure.’

Most people don’t think too much about sneezing. They just happen naturally, he adds.

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Loud, messy sneezing is revolting, thoughtless, rude and perhaps even arrogant because it spreads virus etc. If I can almost always control my sneezes so can everyone else.

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Fred
,

Fred, United Kingdom,
24/4/2013 20:57

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No it can’t! It migh gauge how polite someone is though.

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ken mist
,

paris,
24/4/2013 20:51

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Breaking News!

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userpete86
,

Irvine, United States,
24/4/2013 17:18

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Take a look at women’s lipsticks. The shape of it reveals a lot too.

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xxx
,

london, United Kingdom,
24/4/2013 16:40

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Breaking news! Loud people are loud! In a related story, qiuet people are qiuet.

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AngryYoungMan
,

Newcastle, United Kingdom,
24/4/2013 16:20

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I am far from shy but make a real effort to sneeze quietly, this is just because I can’t stand people sneezing loudly near me, I find it so rude if you’re in company not to make an effort to stifle your sneeze. Yes when you’re on your own sneeze for England, but as far as I’m concerned, people who let their sneezes loudly blast around a room full of people are not confident, they are rude and arrogant.

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Anonymous female
,

Midlands, United Kingdom,
24/4/2013 16:13

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I apologise for my last comment appearing about 10 times!!! Not down to my lack of IT skills; it must have been glitch at DM end – the comment did seem to be very slow to ‘go through’ but I swear I only submitted it once! Time DM got on top of that problem

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nina
,

cambridge, United Kingdom,
24/4/2013 16:11

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Rubbish. When I am at the office or somewhere quiet (like church, or even a restaurant etc), I hold them back. When I am outside in public places or at home I let them out. It’s called decorum.

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londongirl
,

London, United Kingdom,
24/4/2013 15:21

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Total bull. I sneeze like a battleship cannon but have always been timid, very introverted, and unassuming. I also sneeze into my elbow so as to avoid the germs getting onto my hand.

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tzioneretzAThotmail
,

Jerusalem, Israel,
24/4/2013 15:09

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Well I’m shy and my sneezes can be quite loud, not all the time though. I don’t hold back sneezes because I end up having a coughing fit or my eyes start watering really bad. It can be annoying when you’re amongst a crowd of people and you need to sneeze but I just turn away and sneeze away from people without holding back and trying to be discreet. Also when I’ve tried holding back sneezes before I’ve ended up making weird noises and people have been like …’errr…what are you doing?’

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chez30
,

Hampshire, United Kingdom,
24/4/2013 15:01

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