How Sneezing Works

Unless you have an arcane disorder from a lesion on a very specific spot on our medulla, the chances are you sneeze. Turns out most animals do it, even lizards! Learn the whys and hows of this most interesting involuntary reflex. See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:04Josh Clark?

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• 1:41Josh Clark?

  Spring is so many wonderful things. Trees budding, flowers blooming, getting to wear straw hats. But for a lot of people, it also means a miserable season of allergies. And sneezing is the poster child for allergies. Let's just admit it. So we chose our episode on sneezing so we can at least help you understand what the heck is going on with your face, even if we can't cure you. We wish we could. So seal all the doors and the windows and kick back with this episode.

• 2:16Speaker 04

  Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio's How Stuff Works.

• 2:26Josh Clark?

  Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant over there. Jerry is a disembodied spirit, but she's still with us, haunting us, and we are now set up for achievement, which means this is Stuff You Should Know.

• 2:41Speaker 05

  Set up for achievement?

• 2:44Speaker 05

  This sounds like a very 80s Reagan-era campaign.

• 2:47Josh Clark?

  It does. It definitely does. Certainly not the kind of thing that would irritate you, whether it be in your nose, or your brain, or anywhere. Not the best segue, huh?

• 3:00Speaker 05

  I'm surprised you didn't try and work sternutation in there somehow.

• 3:04Josh Clark?

  I love that word. Were you familiar with that word before?

• 3:07Speaker 05

  I don't think, you know, I'm 49 years old. I don't think I'd ever heard sneezing being called sternutation.

• 3:12Josh Clark?

  I got, oh, man, I just remembered. I'm 44 now, so you got me beat, but I'm in the same boat with you.

• 3:21Speaker 05

  Yeah, I never heard that, but that is what, if you're a scientist, well, if you're a scientist and you want to be a real stiff, you'll probably say sternutation if you're a scientist that wants to be friends with people, you'll still probably say sneezing.

• 3:34Josh Clark?

  And I mean, it sounds super clinical, but it's actually really old. It's from, I think the first appearance of it is in a text from 1576.

• 3:43Speaker 05

  It sounds old.

• 3:44Josh Clark?

  To me, it sounds clinical, but there's also a couple derivative words. Sternutative or sternutatory are things that make you sneeze.

• 3:55Speaker 05

  And Howard Stern, baba booey.

• 3:57Josh Clark?

  Right. Achooey. So, we're talking sneezing, obviously, because we just discoursed on sternutitation. I'm adding an extra syllable there, aren't I? Sternutation.

• 4:10Speaker 05

  That's the Josh Clark way.

• 4:11Josh Clark?

  Why do I have to complicate? Why do I have to complimicate things?

• 4:16Speaker 05

  We're talking about snoozing.

• 4:21Speaker 05

  And sneezing is a really sort of, and I hate it when people call things like this elegant, so I'm gonna refrain, but it's just a very efficient system that the human body has worked out to basically allow your nose, and we'll get into all the ins and outs of how it all happens, but to allow your nose and your nasal passage in your brain to act as bouncers and just say, get out of my body, fast.

• 4:50Josh Clark?

  Cut off, pal.

• 4:51Speaker 05

  Like, real fast.

• 4:52Josh Clark?

  You're cut off cigarette smoke. You're cut off Chanel number seven that nobody likes.

• 4:59Josh Clark?

  You know?

• 5:00Speaker 05

  Sure.

• 5:01Josh Clark?

  That's a, yeah, that's a pretty, pretty good way to put it. I mean, and it's an ancient, ancient reflex, too. I mean, basically, all mammals, at least, sneeze. Some more than others. I didn't realize this, but apparently iguanas sneeze the most because it's part of their digestion.

• 5:18Speaker 05

  Yeah. And then, I don't know what it's technically called, but you know, when dogs do what is called the reverse sneeze?

• 5:23Josh Clark?

  Yeah, Momo has that bad.

• 5:25Speaker 05

  It's so scary.

• 5:26Josh Clark?

  It is. It is. And we finally got her checked out, and they verified she doesn't have a collapsed trachea, which is when it really is threatening. It's just something to do with her nasal passages.

• 5:39Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 5:40Josh Clark?

  She's brachycephalic. Have you ever had a dog that has that?

• 5:44Speaker 05

  I mean, I've, I've never had a dog that didn't do it occasionally.

• 5:49Speaker 05

  But Nico, I feel like, goes, and it's not often, but it's, it's like a, you know, it's like, can be prolonged, like, for like, a minute, and it just seems like, are you about to die?

• 5:59Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 5:59Speaker 05

  It's terrible.

• 6:00Josh Clark?

  It's really bad.

• 6:01Speaker 05

  I think you're just supposed to leave him alone, too, right? Just let him do it?

• 6:04Josh Clark?

  No, we help her out. We'll, we'll rub her throat, just kind of stroke it, it seems to help. And then, sometimes, we'll just lightly plug her nostrils to kind of give her like, a hitch to it. And that, that frequently cures it, too. Sometimes, though, yeah, she just has to work it out. But she gets it every time she gets excited, and she gets excited a lot, so. It's sad for her.

• 6:26Speaker 05

  Yeah, but it's really not a sneeze, actually, because a sneeze is when you're you're trying to get something out of your nose and that nose is is a pretty amazing little system. It's a it's an amazing filtration system, how it's designed with those narrow nasal passages. It's not like we have these big face holes, like they're narrow for a very good reason, and that is to create turbulence inside your nasal passages. And, you know, that turbulence shoves all that air that you're inhaling to the sides of your nasal passages.

• 7:01Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 7:02Speaker 05

  The nasal mucosa, and that's got tiny little hairs called cilia. And the cilia mainly is sort of like a pre-doorman just saying like, yeah, your ID is good. Why don't we just move you to the back of the throat and we'll flush you out that way. But if it's too much, that's when you need to call in the big bouncer to initiate that sneeze response.

• 7:23Josh Clark?

  Yeah, sometimes they're just like, no, I'm staying here. I'm not leaving. You can't kick me out.

• 7:27Speaker 05

  I hate the back of the throat.

• 7:29Josh Clark?

  Super drunk, right?

• 7:30Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 7:31Josh Clark?

  Yeah. So I didn't realize that, but it makes sense that we swallow a lot of the particles that we inhale through our nose, which is gross, but effective.

• 7:38Speaker 05

  Or cough it up.

• 7:39Josh Clark?

  We poop it out eventually, right?

• 7:41Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 7:42Josh Clark?

  But yeah, if they get if they get stuck in the nose, then they do something magical, almost as magical as soap. But when it's when they're sticking to the sides and they're not going anywhere, it's clear they're not going anywhere. They actually like irritate some specialized cells that are in that nasal mucosa, mast cells and erythrophils, I think. But basically, they're they're there to look out for little particles that decide they don't want to leave. And when those things get irritated, they release histamines, which trigger this reaction, like an allergic reaction, basically, where your nose is runny. And they also simultaneously start sending signals to your brain saying,

• 8:25Josh Clark?

  hey, we we got one. We need some help.

• 8:28Speaker 05

  Yeah. And I know we talked about this a little bit with another pollen episode. And I feel like we did another allergy centric one.

• 8:38Speaker 05

  But I can't remember, but the whole thing takes about a second for the single sneeze. And you know, it's going to send that message, like you said, that chemical message to the sneeze center of the brain, which is in the lateral medulla.

• 8:51Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 8:52Speaker 05

  And, uh, you know, the lateral medulla gets like everything in the brain, it gets that signal and says, you know, all I gotta, all I gotta do is react fast whenever the body tells me to do something. And in this case, it's to jet out whatever's in the nose as fast as possible.

• 9:08Josh Clark?

  Right. So, and I was looking this up, if you want to get super clinical, if you're the kind of person who uses words like sternutation instead of sneezing, there's actually something called an afferent phase and an efferent phase. And an afferent phase is when you get ready to sneeze, like your, your nerves have been tickled and are triggered and are itching and they're sending messages to your brain in your sneeze center. And then the, the efferent phase is when your sneeze center goes, okay, it's go time. And that's actually pretty interesting stuff. And the way that that happens is basically from what I can tell through a system of nerves, olfactory nerve, uh, ethmoid nerve, which is a terrible word, and then your trigeminal

• 9:53Josh Clark?

  nerve, which is basically responsible for most of the sensation in your face and your ability to bite and chew. And when these nerves spring into action, they hit that message, uh, or the sneezing center in your brain and your sneezing center sends it back over these, this kind of same switchboard of nerves in your face. And all this is happening in just, you know, a very short amount of time.

• 10:14Speaker 05

  Yeah. I mean, like I said, the whole thing takes place in less than a second. And it's got to reach, you know, in order for it to reach that sneeze center, it's got to be past a certain threshold of irritation, basically.

• 10:27Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 10:28Speaker 05

  Uh, and once it does reach that irritable point, which, of which there's no going back, he's had too much to drink, everybody in the bar knows it. That's when it finally sends, uh, that impulse down through the head and neck to initiate that response that involves a lot of muscle groups. Uh, you know, if you, when you sneeze, it's a, and especially with some people, it can be a pretty violent, um, Action for the body.

• 10:56Josh Clark?

  Yeah, like if you stop and take stock of what you're doing right then, you might find that you're hunched over, one of your legs is in the air, like your knees kind of pulled up. You, you, your face is all scrunched up, your neck is tight. There's a lot of muscles involved and the reason why is because you're taking in a bunch of air and then you're expelling a bunch of air with a lot of force to, to get that thing that won't leave out of your nose.

• 11:24Speaker 05

  Yeah, like you can, and I've seen professional athletes that have been sidelined from sneezing. If you've got a bad back or something like it can, it can really hurt. Luckily I don't have back problems, but occasionally I have and a sneeze can really tweak it to where you're like, that's when you know you're in old man territory. You have a sneeze and you're like, hold on, I can't get up.

• 11:45Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I'm gonna have to lay down this weekend.

• 11:48Speaker 05

  But your abdomen, your chest, your diaphragm, your vocal cords, you know, you mentioned that you take that deep inhalation, that's that like right before you go and that builds up a lot of pressure in your chest and that happens because your vocal cords just initially clamp shut.

• 12:04Josh Clark?

  Right, yeah, so you're sucking in a bunch of air, holding it, and so the pressure's building in your thorax. And then when you release it, your, your vocal cord openings open up to allow the air out, but then also your, your diaphragm is pushing that air out really violently so that it's going out your mouth and your nose. I saw about a hundred miles an hour is the, the speed that that can hit.

• 12:32Speaker 05

  Yeah, easily. Around a hundred miles an hour, that is crazy to think about.

• 12:37Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 12:38Speaker 05

  Your eyes close, but you know, we can go ahead and dispel the, the old myth that

• 12:44Speaker 05

  you can pop your eyes out if you keep your eyes open during a sneeze, right?

• 12:48Josh Clark?

  Yeah, not true. And apparently there are some people who do keep their eyes open when they sneeze and they show quite clearly that your eyes don't pop out.

• 12:56Speaker 05

  That's just, that's just, would be impossible. Plus, they usually close anyway, just automatically.

• 13:01Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it's a very small group of people who sneeze with their eyes open. Most people just, it's like involuntary, it's part of the involuntary process of sneezing. I don't know if we said that or not. Sneezing is an involuntary reaction to an external stimuli in your nose.

• 13:16Speaker 05

  Yeah, like, you can't, I mean, you can try and trigger a sneeze, and we'll talk about certain things that can trigger a sneeze, but you definitely can't make yourself sneeze, like, full stop.

• 13:28Josh Clark?

  Yeah, no, no, I mean, yeah, there's definitely things you can do to make yourself sneeze, like you're saying, but there are things you can do to keep yourself from sneezing. Whether you want to or not is a different question, because, you know, sneezing can feel pretty good if you don't throw your back out.

• 13:41Speaker 05

  All right, well, we'll talk about my sneeze pattern later. I know I've talked about it before, but I find it fascinating.

• 13:48Josh Clark?

  You accidentally tap out, drink your Ovaltine and Morse code through your sneezes? Is that your thing? Very nice. Thanks.

• 13:57Speaker 05

  Should we take a break?

• 13:59Josh Clark?

  Let's take a break, Chuck, and then we'll come back and talk more about sneezing.

• 14:18Speaker 06

  First thought is like, wow, how are we gonna do all this?

• 14:20Josh Clark?

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  What the fans experience is incredible. It gave me a lot of pride.

• 15:10Josh Clark?

  AT&T, connecting fans to what they love.

• 15:14Speaker 00

  Connecting changes everything. AT&T.

• 15:20Speaker 03

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• 15:23Josh Clark?

  Sure.

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  Yeah, because it's a process. There's always something you could do or buy or update. The only question is, what's next? For us, our animals just wear out our rugs so quickly. It's usually a new rug.

• 15:34Josh Clark?

  Well, Chuck, whether you need a rug or whatever is next for you, you can go to Wayfair. It's the smart place to get it.

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• 15:52Josh Clark?

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• 16:18Josh Clark?

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• 16:54Josh Clark?

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• 17:23Josh Clark?

  Hey man, before we get back into it too far, I realized I didn't give a shout out to the guy who gave me the idea for this episode.

• 17:31Speaker 05

  Dr. Sneeze-a-lot?

• 17:32Josh Clark?

  Yes, Dr. Todd G. Sneeze-a-lot. No, one of my neighbor friends Wesley was like, hey man, he actually listens and he's like, hey man, have you guys ever done one on sneezing? And I'm like, sure, of course we have. He's like, oh, because if you haven't, you know, you really should. That's a great one. And I went back and looked into my astoundment. We had never done one on sneezing, like never. I just can't believe that that wasn't like one of the first 10, you know?

• 17:59Speaker 05

  Yeah, that seems like it would be an early stuff you should know.

• 18:02Josh Clark?

  For sure. And like, it kind of feels like one of those right now as we're doing it, but.

• 18:07Speaker 05

  You know, my neighbors think I'm unemployed. It's great.

• 18:10Josh Clark?

  Yeah, but hats off to Wes for coming up with that one.

• 18:15Speaker 05

  Thanks Wes.

• 18:16Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 18:17Speaker 05

  Now leave Josh alone.

• 18:18Josh Clark?

  He's one, he's the one that we got the loveyourmama.com stuff for. And he's like, we're halfway done with our room spray. We need some more because we're using it so fast.

• 18:28Speaker 05

  And you're the pusher man?

• 18:29Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I was like, first one's on me, next you're gonna cost you.

• 18:34Speaker 05

  Yeah, I don't correct my neighbors. They think I'm down on my luck. So that's all good in my opinion.

• 18:39Josh Clark?

  No, that's definitely the way to go. He's very nosy, so he, he found out. I had to finally just stop lying.

• 18:45Speaker 05

  Oh, that's good stuff.

• 18:49Josh Clark?

  So we're back to sneezing. We're talking sneezing. And one of the things we mentioned was the sneezing center, which is this, up until not too many years ago, a theoretical part of the brain that causes us to sneeze, that coordinates this involuntary response. Because you're not like, your brain's not consciously saying like, okay, now diaphragm, expel the air. Like this is all, like we said, involuntary.

• 19:15Speaker 05

  That'd be great if you had to say that every time you wanted to sneeze.

• 19:19Josh Clark?

  Right, expel air. So it makes sense that there would be a region that was responsible for this because we've already, we'd already seen it in cats. Don't ask how we knew where it is in cats, but in cats, it's in the medulla. And so it was hypothesized that it was in the lateral medulla in humans too. And finally, I think around 2005, there's basically incontrovertible evidence that came in the form of this fisherman, I believe he might have been Spanish, who had this sneezing fit one day of like about 20 really violent sneezes in a few minutes. And then all of a sudden, he stopped sneezing and couldn't walk right. Like, his gait was affected, almost

• 20:01Josh Clark?

  like he'd had a stroke. And apparently, either he caused a lesion on his lateral medulla from the sneezing, or that violent sneezing was like an initial symptom of a lesion, kind of like, here's your last sneezes ever. And he went to the doctor and they started testing him. And they would do things like put capsaicin in his nose, like red hot chili pepper, in his nose, which makes everybody sneeze. It's like a universal sternitatory, right? Makes everyone sneeze. And it wouldn't make this guy sneeze. It would burn his nose and it would make his nose runny, but it wouldn't make him sneeze. On the other side, it would make him sneeze, the other nostril, but not the right, I think. And so they found

• 20:44Josh Clark?

  this lesion on his lateral medulla. And they said, sneezing center, welcome to our understanding.

• 20:51Speaker 05

  That's such a bad red hot chili peppers joke that I just sat on through that whole spiel.

• 20:55Josh Clark?

  That's very grown up of you.

• 20:57Speaker 05

  Should I say it?

• 21:00Josh Clark?

  Sure. Whoever said we were grownups?

• 21:03Speaker 05

  No, I was just thinking the doctor would do the capsaicin and ask him how he feels. And he'd say, well, I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner.

• 21:12Josh Clark?

  That was pretty good.

• 21:15Speaker 05

  Yeah, you know, it's better than Fight Like a Brave. I don't know. I'm trying to think of Chili Pepper songs.

• 21:21Josh Clark?

  What if the doctor came in wearing nothing but one of those reflector headbands and a sock on his penis?

• 21:27Speaker 05

  Saw that coming.

• 21:28Josh Clark?

  And that was it.

• 21:31Speaker 05

  Oh, that'd be great. You know you got the right doctor.

• 21:34Josh Clark?

  Yeah, you do. The party doc.

• 21:37Speaker 05

  So, things that can make you sneeze, I know you kind of rattled off some jokes about perfume and smoke earlier.

• 21:43Josh Clark?

  Oh, I wasn't joking.

• 21:44Speaker 05

  But those are all realities. The most common cause of a sneeze is, and the collective term is rhinitis, R-H-I-N-I-T-I-S, and that is just your sort of standard inflammation and swelling of your mucous membrane when you've got allergies, when pollen's in the air, when you have a cold. But there are all kinds of other things that can cause a sneeze too, that are all different types of rhinitis.

• 22:12Josh Clark?

  Yeah, speaking of rhinitis too, I ran across a term, the clinical term for a runny nose is rhinorrhea.

• 22:18Speaker 05

  Gross.

• 22:19Josh Clark?

  Yeah, isn't that grody? Like, that makes it at least 12 or 15 times worse than runny nose, you know?

• 22:25Speaker 05

  Yeah, weird.

• 22:27Josh Clark?

  Yeah. So, there's occupational rhinitis, which is basically when stuff you're working around makes you sneeze or irritate your nose. Things like cleaning supplies, or, you know, flour I saw was a pretty common occupational rhinitis. Sternitatory? Or sternitative, depending on your preference. Cigarette smoke, if you work in a place where they let you smoke, like maybe a cigarette factory. Although I heard that they don't allow smoking inside some cigarette factories now in like, North Carolina. Isn't that just the end-all be-all?

• 23:06Speaker 05

  You think they would allow you to do that while you're working?

• 23:10Josh Clark?

  They used to, up until very recently.

• 23:12Speaker 05

  Really?

• 23:12Josh Clark?

  Oh, yeah. I have the impression you could just pluck one off the line and light it up.

• 23:16Speaker 05

  Wow. I guess if you're a smoker, that's a big perk.

• 23:20Josh Clark?

  It is, but then now they're like, no smoking inside, which leads you to the follow-up question, why?

• 23:26Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 23:27Josh Clark?

  Why would, why can we not smoke?

• 23:28Speaker 05

  Because it kills you, and they go, what?

• 23:30Josh Clark?

  Very dangerous, you dummy.

• 23:33Speaker 05

  Uh, let me see. You've also got the hormonal rhinitis, uh, which is, uh, women might experience that when they have high estrogen levels. Uh, maybe if you're pregnant, or you're on the pill, or you're going through puberty, you might have some sort of run-on sneezing episodes.

• 23:49Josh Clark?

  Sure. Um, there's, uh, drug-induced rhinitis. There's certain drugs that are have been identified. Um, what'd you say?

• 23:56Speaker 05

  The hippos kind.

• 23:58Josh Clark?

  Right, yeah. Mushrooms will make you sneeze. Um, apparently, I'm guessing that, I didn't see this anywhere, but this is an educated guess. Tell me if you think it sounds convincing. Um, those drugs probably stimulate your mast cells to release histamines, and then that's just basically, almost like a phantom, um, allergen.

• 24:19Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 24:20Josh Clark?

  That's what I'm going with.

• 24:21Speaker 05

  All right.

• 24:23Josh Clark?

  But apparently NSAIDs, beta blockers, and some antihypertensive drugs are the ones that are known, um, drug-induced rhinitis, sternititis.

• 24:35Speaker 05

  Uh, if you are of advanced age, you might have what's called geriatric rhinitis, which is, that's when those, uh, submucosal glands atrophy, and that means your nose can get really irritated and you might sneeze a lot.

• 24:52Josh Clark?

  Right. Um, that is very sad to me, if you think about it, because there's not much that can be done. Uh, I'm sure you're, there's, you just put like maybe Vaseline or something in your nose, that's gotta be the cure for that. But that's just sad, because it's like your, your little body's, you know, running down. We should have a cure for that.

• 25:12Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 25:13Josh Clark?

  Like, our medicine is not far enough along, in my opinion, for to, for this to be 2020. It's kind of a disappointing 2020, everybody, am I right?

• 25:22Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 25:24Josh Clark?

  So, we've talked before, Chuck, multiple times about photic sneezing, which I'm a photic sneezer, and I don't remember if you are or not.

• 25:33Speaker 05

  I feel like I have, but I don't, it's not like roundly something that happens to me. I don't think so.

• 25:40Josh Clark?

  Okay, I am a photic sneezer more than I'm a native born Toledoan even. Maybe they're tied.

• 25:46Speaker 05

  So how does it get you? Like anytime you like turn on a light?

• 25:51Josh Clark?

  Very rarely light. It's almost always sunlight and I think it's just because of the intensity of it. But yeah, like if I walk out, say like if I go see a movie in the middle of the day, like as a slacker.

• 26:01Speaker 05

  I miss those days.

• 26:02Josh Clark?

  And I come out and then I come out and it's very sunny.

• 26:06Speaker 05

  Sure.

• 26:07Josh Clark?

  It is guaranteed three sneezes in a row.

• 26:10Speaker 05

  Hmm. Is that your usual pattern?

• 26:12Josh Clark?

  Yeah, usually. And I looked into that, like, why do we sneeze multiple times? Apparently there's a very simple answer for it and it's that your, your brain has determined that the irritant hasn't been ejected yet. But with photic sneezing, it's, it's almost like it's mistaken identity, right?

• 26:29Speaker 05

  Yeah. Uh, I actually did see some other things too about the patterns because that's always fascinated me because I always sneeze in threes.

• 26:36Josh Clark?

  Oh yeah, okay.

• 26:37Speaker 05

  And I did see where some, some places said that just once isn't enough. So it's like a setup, a get it to the front of your nose and then a get out. But I also saw where it could be genetic.

• 26:50Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 26:50Speaker 05

  Like that you inherit a sneeze pattern.

• 26:53Josh Clark?

  Oh, really?

• 26:53Speaker 05

  And that like double sneezers beget to double sneezers.

• 26:57Josh Clark?

  It makes sense because there are like photic sneezing is one of a couple ways that you can inherit a genetic sneezing trait. So that would make sense.

• 27:06Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's right. Photo, uh, I'm sorry. Photic sneeze reflex is passed on by autosomal dominant inheritance. And it's, and I love this, uh, this acronym because this is one of those reverse engineered ones that we like so much.

• 27:22Josh Clark?

  Do you like this one?

• 27:24Speaker 05

  I like this one. I hated the other one.

• 27:26Josh Clark?

  Yeah, man, with a passion.

• 27:27Speaker 05

  Like I wouldn't even, I wasn't even going to bring that one up to be honest.

• 27:30Josh Clark?

  We'll just pass it by and let everybody wonder for the rest of their lives.

• 27:33Speaker 05

  But autosomal dominant compelling helio, uh, ophthalmic outburst syndrome, ACHU.

• 27:43Speaker 05

  It's a little rough.

• 27:45Josh Clark?

  It is. I mean, there's a whole D, a whole dominant in there that's missing, but okay, fine, we'll go with that. But that's the, that is a term for photic sneezing that was coined at some, some point by someone who's obviously-

• 27:59Speaker 05

  That's your biggest pet peeve, right? For acronyms is when they just sneak a word in there and don't use it for a letter.

• 28:03Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it's lazy. Although, I mean, I get where they were coming from. You don't want it to be ad chew. It's like, why even, why even do it? But, but you gotta figure it out, you know? I mean, just take dominant out. Just go with autosomal, you know?

• 28:19Speaker 05

  Yeah, no one, who would know?

• 28:21Josh Clark?

  I wouldn't have noticed.

• 28:24Josh Clark?

  So you were saying, was that it for the patterns, the sneezing patterns?

• 28:29Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, there are just a couple of theories, either hereditary or that it just takes that much, but I'm not, I just don't know if I buy that for myself. Cause it's always threes and it's not like I have a weak sneeze, so it takes three. I don't know. It feels ingrained somehow.

• 28:46Josh Clark?

  Yeah, like if you only do two, you notice and it, does it feel incomplete?

• 28:51Speaker 05

  It does, but it, that almost never happens. Occasionally I'll do a four banger.

• 28:57Speaker 05

  But I don't, I don't know that I ever sneeze once or twice. It's almost always three.

• 29:02Josh Clark?

  Yeah. And speaking of incomplete, if you actually go, if you experience the afferent phase, but the efferent phase isn't triggered, but it's enough to drive you nuts, there's things you can do. And one of those things that's recommended is to look at a bright light or look, kind of, don't look directly at the sun, but look toward the sun. And that should help jumpstart that efferent phase, the second part where the actual sneeze takes place.

• 29:30Speaker 05

  Oh, okay. Well, that makes sense.

• 29:32Josh Clark?

  But they think what's going on is that there's a crossover between the sneeze reflex arc and the pupillary light reflex arc, which basically is one nerve becoming so stimulated that it, it stimulates by proxy the, the other nerve, the sneeze nerve. So you're getting so overloaded with bright light when you see that sunlight that it accidentally jumps on over to your sneeze reflex as well and makes you sneeze.

• 30:03Speaker 05

  It's like, are you getting all this light? Are you getting this?

• 30:05Josh Clark?

  Get a load of this.

• 30:07Speaker 05

  And I think they've landed on about, uh, between 23 and 25% generally of people have this photic sneeze reflex.

• 30:16Josh Clark?

  Right. So that's, I mean, that's pretty substantial. There are some other like small identity groups of sneezers that are far smaller than that. Apparently, there are people who, there's four families, not one in four people, four families, as far as anyone knows, who have something called, um, snatiation, which is where you, if they eat too much and they feel overly full, it will trigger a sneezing attack.

• 30:46Speaker 05

  Yeah, I would call that rare.

• 30:49Josh Clark?

  Yeah, four families, for sure. And we're just gonna pass right on by, right Chuck?

• 30:54Speaker 05

  Uh, yes.

• 30:55Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 30:56Speaker 05

  Acronym. Um, getting back to the photic sneezing, though, they think it also could be a holdover and evolutionary advantage from when we were little babies.

• 31:06Josh Clark?

  Hmm.

• 31:06Speaker 05

  Because little babies don't have, they can't blow their nose. They don't know what that even is.

• 31:11Josh Clark?

  No.

• 31:11Speaker 05

  So the only, um, they can't pick their nose, they can't, they can't use any implement at all to clear out their nose, except the sneeze. They rely on the sneeze to get that mucus out, or of course, parents who will suck that stuff out through a little device.

• 31:29Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 31:29Speaker 05

  Which is no fun, but necessary.

• 31:31Josh Clark?

  Or you hold them on their side and you blow in their ear. It usually clears out the nose.

• 31:37Speaker 05

  But they think it could-

• 31:38Josh Clark?

  I should probably just go ahead and say, "Don't do that." That was a joke.

• 31:42Speaker 05

  You can whisper sweet nothings.

• 31:43Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 31:44Speaker 05

  But don't, uh, yeah, don't do that. Um, but babies are pretty sensitive to that photic light reflex, and they think that may be a reason that basically we, that's just sort of a holdover from when we were babies.

• 31:57Josh Clark?

  It makes sense. It also makes sense to me that babies might have, um, more active or kind of raw or nerve pathways, so maybe they're just more sensitive to that, that jump over, that crossover.

• 32:10Speaker 05

  Maybe.

• 32:11Josh Clark?

  Plucking nose hairs, does that ever happen to you?

• 32:14Speaker 05

  Buh, every time.

• 32:15Josh Clark?

  So it doesn't make me sneeze, but it makes my eyes water. Like, I've just seen every long-distance commercial from the 90s all at once.

• 32:25Speaker 05

  Yeah, and it's interesting because those, you talked earlier about the trigeminal nerves that are all through the face. I think it's just all related. Like, you could pluck an eyebrow and it could make you sneeze. And your eyes are watering and that's part of your face. Like, it's just all sort of one big nerve bundle. That's all interrelated and it could, any of those could trigger either watering of eyes or definitely sneezing. Even if you like pluck a hair out of your head, that could do it.

• 32:54Josh Clark?

  That's never happened to me, but my nose hair and my eyebrow hair, oh man, my eyes will start watering. It's not a pleasant experience, for sure.

• 33:02Speaker 05

  I've never plucked an eyebrow hair.

• 33:05Josh Clark?

  Oh, every once in a while, I'll get one that's a big, fat, long goat hair. It just suddenly comes up overnight.

• 33:13Speaker 05

  No, I've seen, I've got those too.

• 33:15Josh Clark?

  Okay, well, I pluck those.

• 33:16Speaker 05

  I just trim those.

• 33:17Josh Clark?

  You know, it's, um, maybe I should trim them, that's a good idea. But have you ever noticed if you get one, and there's almost invariably one on the other side too? Like, they come up in pairs? Has that happened to you?

• 33:31Speaker 05

  Have not noticed that. When you pull on one, does the other one get shorter?

• 33:38Josh Clark?

  That was wonderful.

• 33:39Speaker 05

  That'd be great.

• 33:40Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it's like pulling that spaghetti through your nose and out your mouth.

• 33:44Speaker 05

  Don't do that either.

• 33:45Josh Clark?

  Can you do that?

• 33:46Speaker 05

  Uh, no, I've never tried to do stuff like that.

• 33:48Josh Clark?

  I've never tried either, I don't want to.

• 33:49Speaker 05

  No.

• 33:51Josh Clark?

  There's also a group of people who sneeze when they become sexually aroused.

• 33:55Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's a thing, apparently. Or if you orgasm, uh, like, after you orgasm, it could trigger a sneezing fit.

• 34:01Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it's a, apparently a bigger group than, than you would expect. Some researcher went around to internet chatrooms and said, hey, does anybody sneeze when they become aroused or when they have an orgasm? And she found 17 people who sneeze from sexual ideation and three who sneeze from orgasm, which is, that is way more than I would expect from just going around on internet chatrooms and asking people, you know?

• 34:25Speaker 05

  Yeah, and also, we should point out, way not scientific.

• 34:29Josh Clark?

  No, not at all. But yeah, anecdotally, it's still impressive. But I read an explanation for this. It's a terrible explanation, but it's an explanation by the Journal of the Association of Physicians of India. It's an Indian journal, coincidentally enough. They suggest that it's because the nose contains erectile tissue, which it does, which erectile tissue is just tissue that can become larger and gorged by blood flow. And yes, you have erectile tissue in your genitalia. Um, yes, you have it in your nose, but they're not, they're not in any way related as far as anyone's ever even thought, aside from the, the people in this journal.

• 35:13Josh Clark?

  Isn't that the most bizarre thing you've ever heard?

• 35:15Speaker 05

  It's pretty bizarre.

• 35:16Josh Clark?

  Like, your nose is becoming aroused, is basically what they're saying. And so you sneeze.

• 35:22Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 35:23Josh Clark?

  Fantastic.

• 35:24Speaker 05

  Uh, there's also intractable sneezing or psychogenic. And that is something that's almost exclusive to young women. Um, girls, adolescents, basically going through puberty. And these are girls who may not suffer from allergies. They're not sick with a cold or anything, but can go on these big sneezing binges for days and days at a time.

• 35:47Josh Clark?

  Yes. And apparently, the, the world, the world, oh my goodness. The world record holder is a girl named Donna Griffiths, who was 12 when she started. She started in 1981, January of 1981. And her sneezing fit ended 977 days later in September of 1983.

• 36:09Speaker 05

  I remember hearing about this one.

• 36:10Josh Clark?

  And as it, I mean, as it went on, I was way too young for this. But, uh, you know, had I, had I been more aware, I would have felt very bad for this girl. Um, because as it went on, she could, if she sneezed once in a day, it was considered part of the record. And I think that that was kind of how it was toward the end. But that first year sounds like a bear.

• 36:31Speaker 05

  Yeah, no good.

• 36:32Josh Clark?

  A million sneezes in the first 365 days, which is basically a sneeze a minute on average. And Chuck, and... It's impossible to sneeze in your sleep. You cannot sneeze in your sleep. If you sneeze while you're sleeping, you wake up to sneeze. Your brain just isn't functioning correctly to sneeze while you're sleeping. So that means this girl was averaging a sneeze a minute just during waking hours. But a sneeze a minute over 24 hours compressed into, say, 10 or 12 hours that she was awake that day.

• 37:04Speaker 05

  Or would she wake herself up sneezing?

• 37:07Josh Clark?

  I don't know. If that's the case, then she had a really, really rough year because she was sneezing every minute and not getting any sleep.

• 37:15Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, it's disruptive no matter what. No one, I mean, you can't hold on a job if you're sneezing every minute.

• 37:21Josh Clark?

  Well, luckily, she was 12, and this is after child labor laws were passed. I'm hoping she didn't have a job.

• 37:26Speaker 05

  Get out of that cigarette factory.

• 37:27Josh Clark?

  That's right. She has nimble little fingers for sorting cigarettes.

• 37:31Speaker 05

  Perfect. Should we take another break?

• 37:33Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I think so.

• 37:34Speaker 05

  All right, we'll talk about these, the Travelin' Droplets right after this. Great band.

• 37:55Josh Clark?

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• 38:19Speaker 05

  Join host Andra Stratten as she guides listeners through honest conversations about life after diagnosis. You'll hear how each guest worked with her care team on their treatment plan, as well as their personal challenges, setbacks, progress, and moments of connection.

• 38:32Josh Clark?

  These stories reveal that life is bigger than a moment, a condition, or a tough day. Listen to Voices of Vivgard on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 38:48Josh Clark?

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• 39:11Josh Clark?

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• 39:26Speaker 03

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• 39:49Speaker 02

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• 40:34Speaker 03

  All right. So this is pretty relevant now. And I know, and I think this was put together before. I feel like we've been sitting on this one. Was this before coronavirus?

• 40:44Josh Clark?

  No, I think it was during.

• 40:46Speaker 03

  Was it during? Okay.

• 40:47Josh Clark?

  Yeah. And this is a, Dave helped us out. Dave Roos helped us out with this one.

• 40:50Speaker 03

  Yeah. So, and I think we've all seen these videos by now with everything that's going on. But in 2016, a researcher from MIT named Lydia, ooh, boy, goodness me, Barubia?

• 41:07Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 41:07Speaker 05

  Bariaba?

• 41:09Josh Clark?

  I'm going with Buruiba.

• 41:11Speaker 05

  Buruiba?

• 41:13Josh Clark?

  It is, there's a couple of "oo" sounds in there that follow one another. It makes it very difficult.

• 41:17Speaker 05

  Yeah, whenever you pack three vowels in a row, it's always sort of a dealer's choice. So she published some slow-mo, 2,000 frame per second film images of people sneezing and what that looked like. That's where we get, and other people have done this too, and measured the sneeze, but that's one place where we get the 100 miles per hour stat.

• 41:42Josh Clark?

  Oh, from that study?

• 41:43Speaker 05

  Yeah, and other places. I mean, that's pretty common knowledge now, but up to 25, 30 feet, you can blow a sneeze. It can stay suspended in the air for a few minutes, and they likened it to if you would take a bucket of paint and just throw the paint out of the can into the air.

• 42:01Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 42:02Speaker 05

  Sort of is how a sneeze works. They call it sheets of fluids. And, you know, you've got these big hunks of mucus and saliva that just sort of come out together and then break apart little by little until you get to the fine mist that sort of can hang in the air.

• 42:18Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it starts as a clump and then turns into ropey filaments and then into increasingly smaller particles. And those really small particles, the aerosolized stuff.

• 42:27Speaker 05

  That's the scary stuff.

• 42:28Josh Clark?

  I saw a Bristol study that said, and this wasn't necessarily coronavirus, but that contagious germs can stay in the air, suspended in the air for weeks possibly. That would have to be a very hardy contagious virus or bacteria.

• 42:42Speaker 05

  Yeah, with like no airflow.

• 42:44Josh Clark?

  Right. Yeah, to just sit there. But the 27 feet, which is kind of common knowledge these days in the era of coronavirus, that your sneeze can project those particles up to like 27 feet. There's little pockets of gas and turbulence that are in a room, even a room that seems still, but certainly one that has like the AC on or air flowing through it. And those little particles can hitch rides on those pockets and travel, I saw it, 200 times further than you expel them with just your sneeze.

• 43:20Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 43:20Josh Clark?

  So you know what prevents that? Covering yourself, your mouth and your nose when you sneeze and/or wearing a mask.

• 43:28Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, they teach.

• 43:31Speaker 05

  I mean, this has nothing to do with coronavirus, but it's especially important. But they teach little kids from the moment they can even understand things in preschool to always sneeze into your elbow and cough into your elbow because that's something that kids can, you know, you can't always get to a tissue.

• 43:47Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 43:48Speaker 05

  Which is what they say is sort of the best thing to do.

• 43:50Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 43:50Speaker 05

  But that elbow is a pretty good, it's a pretty good system, I think.

• 43:55Josh Clark?

  It's really cute to see a little kid do that, too.

• 43:57Speaker 05

  Yeah, because they're doing the right thing. It's adorable. I agree.

• 44:02Josh Clark?

  Yeah. But yeah, the ideal is to sneeze into a tissue, throw your tissue away and wash your hands thoroughly. That's what you're supposed to do after you sneeze. Every time. Every single time.

• 44:14Speaker 05

  Every single time. And I don't sneeze a lot. Emily sneezes a lot.

• 44:18Josh Clark?

  Oh, yeah?

• 44:19Speaker 05

  Yeah, because she's got the allergies.

• 44:20Josh Clark?

  Oh, yeah.

• 44:21Speaker 05

  So she's got a lifelong persistent tickle in her nose. It's terrible.

• 44:26Josh Clark?

  Oh. Does she have, what's it called? That kind of sneezing where it's psychogenic, intractable sneezing?

• 44:34Speaker 05

  Well, no, because she's not, she's not 13.

• 44:37Josh Clark?

  Man.

• 44:40Speaker 05

  No, it's just allergy related, but lots of sneezing when it's really bad, it's pretty tough to be around. Not tough for me, but you know.

• 44:49Josh Clark?

  Right, right.

• 44:50Speaker 05

  It's really annoying.

• 44:52Josh Clark?

  So I did look up to find out where we stood as far as knowledge on sneezing and contagion outdoors goes. And from what I can tell, there was some study that was done by some engineers that sprayed an aerosol can, running, walking, and then on a bike. And the results showed that this stuff spreads really far and wide, but they didn't take into account a lot of different things, a lot of different factors, so that if you are outdoors, as long as somebody doesn't sneeze at you basically in your face or in your direction within, you know, 20 or 30 feet directly toward you, you're probably

• 45:34Josh Clark?

  not going to catch enough of a viral load of something like coronavirus to become sick from it. Especially if you're not in a crowded group, if you're just walking outside and somebody else is walking, you know, 15 feet ahead of you and they're just breathing and they're on the other side of the street, you're probably going to be fine just because that stuff's going to dissipate so much because of all the factors, the environmental factors that exist outdoors rather as opposed to indoors. Indoors is a totally different ballgame. Outdoors, you're much safer.

• 46:06Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, I haven't, I haven't been around a human that sneezed aside from my wife in, you know, four or five months.

• 46:13Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 46:14Speaker 05

  Like I would even when I've gone to the store and like I'm on the lookout for that stuff.

• 46:19Josh Clark?

  Oh, yeah.

• 46:20Speaker 05

  And like I think we all are, but I haven't even been in a store like on an aisle where someone's like sneezed because I would and probably unreasonably, you know, freak out a little bit.

• 46:31Josh Clark?

  Sure, I think you're allowed to yell at that person.

• 46:34Speaker 05

  But I haven't even seen anyone, been around anyone that sneezed.

• 46:38Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 46:39Speaker 05

  So that's been a comfort.

• 46:41Josh Clark?

  Yeah, you and me went to the store and came back and said somebody sneezed twice and the whole store just started looking around like where'd that come from?

• 46:47Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's weird, huh?

• 46:49Josh Clark?

  Yeah, yeah, there's basically like a stampede or something to get away from that thing. It's, it is, it's a weird, weird time to be alive. We're all going to be very, very weird even after things go back to normal, I think.

• 46:59Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 47:00Josh Clark?

  You know?

• 47:01Speaker 05

  It's gonna, it's gonna take a minute.

• 47:02Josh Clark?

  I know I will be, yeah.

• 47:03Speaker 05

  So should we talk a little bit about a culture and, you know, sort of what people say all around the world? I know here in America, it's sort of custom to say, God bless you or bless you. And that, you know, there's some different explanations, but one of them that seems to hold water, I think, dates back to the Middle Ages with the Black Plague, when Pope Gregory VII basically said, hey, everyone, you know, things are pretty bad. We should just, we should say, God bless you if someone is sneezing because they might be dying.

• 47:37Josh Clark?

  Yeah, which is a, from what I saw, a big departure from. Earlier Christian teachings, which taught people to just totally ignore sneezes.

• 47:47Speaker 05

  Yeah, or say God is dead.

• 47:48Josh Clark?

  Which I, right, which I, I find very weird. Like, why would you teach people to ignore sneezes? I didn't get that. But I found this really awesome article called Romance and Tragedy of Sneezing by Dr. Wilson D. Wallace in Scientific Monthly from 1919. And he cited that, that earlier Christians were like, just ignore it, just pretend it didn't happen.

• 48:10Speaker 05

  Yeah, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a bless you guy. I don't do the Gesundheit or Salud, which is Spanish to your health, that kind of thing.

• 48:21Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it's also a toast.

• 48:22Speaker 05

  Yeah, I say that. I don't, I don't say that ever, really. Sometimes I'll say it when I toast. But it's, I don't know, I don't remember what I do to, with anyone anymore.

• 48:33Speaker 05

  You know, it's, I don't, I've forgotten to deal with people.

• 48:35Josh Clark?

  I always raise my glass and say, it's time to get toe up from the flow up.

• 48:40Speaker 05

  I say, may Jupiter bless you.

• 48:43Josh Clark?

  Right. I saw another one from the Greeks, too. I love that one. Live! Zeus preserve you.

• 48:50Speaker 05

  I think you and I should bring back both of those.

• 48:53Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 48:53Speaker 05

  That's fantastic.

• 48:55Josh Clark?

  Can't you imagine everyone in Greece just like being like, don't sneeze, don't sneeze? Just everyone's all twitchy and shaky from people yelling that at them.

• 49:01Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, it's weird, too, because it's a, it's a very kind thing to do to a stranger. It's a, this one, I guess Dave just says an academic, but they called it a micro affection. Which is nice, you know, it's just a little quick, nice thing to say to a stranger if, and I'll always do it, we've, we've done it during our live shows when someone sneezes. It's a, and not to be funny, it gets a laugh, but it's just sort of a, it's almost like an involuntary micro affection, I think, for most, you know, non-monsters.

• 49:33Josh Clark?

  For sure, yeah. Where people just kind of have a brief connection right then, you know, even though they don't know each other.

• 49:39Speaker 05

  But now it's like, bless you.

• 49:40Josh Clark?

  I'm a human being, you're a human being. What is it now?

• 49:42Speaker 05

  Well, just bless you and get, please get very far away from me if you're gonna do it again.

• 49:47Josh Clark?

  Bless you over there. So there's also a very common understanding that people thought that a demon was trying to get in, or your soul was trying to get out.

• 49:57Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 49:58Josh Clark?

  And I kept seeing like other cultures or old ancient cultures, that kind of thing. The closest one I could find that seemed like that was in Persia. Zoroastrians believed that your body was fighting off a fiend that had invaded, like an invading demon or spirit. And that a sneeze was basically your body signaling that it had been victorious in fighting this fiend and getting this fiend out. And that that deserved a prayer. And that if you overheard somebody sneeze, you would say the same prayer with them. I couldn't find what prayer, though.

• 50:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, it seems to be a good luck thing in a lot of cultures throughout the years. According to the Talmud, it's a good omen if you sneeze when you're praying. In China and Japan, if you sneeze, it means someone's, sort of like your ears are burning, someone's talking about you.

• 50:45Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 50:46Speaker 05

  And one sneeze means they're saying nice things. Two means they're spreading gossip. I don't know what they would think about me with my three.

• 50:56Speaker 05

  Three means you die.

• 50:57Josh Clark?

  Right. What would three mean?

• 51:00Speaker 05

  I don't know. I mean, because there's only two ways people can talk about you, right?

• 51:03Josh Clark?

  Exactly. They might be saying something like Chuck has a beard.

• 51:08Speaker 05

  Okay. That's as neutral as it gets.

• 51:10Josh Clark?

  Exactly. So there's folklore and then there's what we think is true, which is a kind of folklore, but it's actually, it's just folklore too. Urban legends is what we call them, or old wives tales. And we talked about one where that your eyes will pop out of your head if you sneeze with your eyes open. We debunked that one pretty clearly, I think, don't you?

• 51:33Speaker 05

  Can't do it.

• 51:35Josh Clark?

  And then there's some other ones too. There's one that Yumi told me about that I had no idea until she said this, but apparently some people believe that you basically die for a second while you're sneezing, like your body just shuts down, including your heart, and that you're technically dead for that half second while the sneeze is going on.

• 51:55Speaker 05

  I've heard your heart stops.

• 51:57Josh Clark?

  I had never heard that before. Until a couple of days ago. And yeah, I looked it up and it's a thing, but no, it's that's not at all true. Like your heart rhythm might actually change and the volume of blood in your heart might decrease or increase because of the pressure of the air in your chest or the release of pressure. But the electrical activity remains the same and that's the key to whether your heart's, you know, alive or not.

• 52:22Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, your heart does not stop.

• 52:24Josh Clark?

  No.

• 52:25Speaker 05

  That's like playground stuff.

• 52:27Josh Clark?

  It is. I thought it was very cute.

• 52:28Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 52:29Josh Clark?

  What about sneezing after sex preventing pregnancy? Did you see this one?

• 52:34Speaker 05

  Well, I mean, what are you sneezing out of?

• 52:36Josh Clark?

  Right. So I mean, that like, that's the idea that if you sneeze, you're expelling. Well, there's really no other way to put it, semen and that that would keep you from getting pregnant.

• 52:47Speaker 05

  Wow.

• 52:48Josh Clark?

  Seems a little ridic.

• 52:50Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's another playground thing.

• 52:53Josh Clark?

  I guess so. What's good? What playground have you been hanging out on?

• 52:57Speaker 05

  Pretty advanced playground activity.

• 53:00Josh Clark?

  You got anything else? Oh, I've got one more thing, Chuck. Yeah. You got anything else?

• 53:04Speaker 05

  I got nothing else.

• 53:05Josh Clark?

  In 2016 or 18, a man in Leicester in the UK ruptured his throat from trying to stifle a sneeze. The pressure was so great, it broke open his throat.

• 53:16Speaker 05

  Wow.

• 53:17Josh Clark?

  Yeah. Internally, it didn't break through the skin, but his, his intern, his throat internally was ruptured.

• 53:21Speaker 05

  Cause that's what I pictured.

• 53:24Speaker 05

  Like a throat explosion.

• 53:25Josh Clark?

  It just blew his head completely off like that guy in scanners. Well, like, I guess that's it for sneezing, everybody. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks again to Wes for the idea. And since I said that, it's time for listener mail.

• 53:40Speaker 05

  I call this Atlanta, Texas. Hey guys, my name's Ben Lee, local Atlantan, Georgia. And my wife and I are huge, longtime fans. In your recent episode on Pirate Radio, y'all briefly brought up Radio Atlanta, which was named after Atlanta, Texas. And you joked that no one knew that town exists, even the people that live there. And that's pretty much true. My family is originally from Atlanta, Texas. It's pretty small. Just about 5,000 residents, so it's totally understandable. I was born in Texarkana, Texas. Not too far from there, which is basically famous for being in the Smokey and the Bandit movie.

• 54:15Josh Clark?

  I thought that was the town that dreaded sundown too, wasn't it?

• 54:19Speaker 05

  I don't know about that. I definitely remember from Smokey and the Bandit.

• 54:22Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 54:23Speaker 05

  Cause they're driving that beer from Texarkana to Atlanta. And Benjamin here says, I don't know why they didn't do Atlanta to Atlanta. Wasted opportunity.

• 54:32Josh Clark?

  It really is. It sounds like Benjamin moved from Atlanta to Atlanta though, huh?

• 54:37Speaker 05

  Maybe.

• 54:38Josh Clark?

  Kinda.

• 54:39Speaker 05

  I mean, he's in Atlanta.

• 54:41Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 54:41Speaker 05

  He teaches at Georgia State.

• 54:43Josh Clark?

  That's pretty awesome. Hey, hats off to you for teaching these days, Benjamin.

• 54:47Speaker 05

  Yeah, he says there's a lot of towns in Texas that are also Georgia names. There's in Athens, Texas, Douglasville, Columbus, Dallas, Georgia, and Texas. And he said, there's even a Georgia, Texas.

• 55:00Josh Clark?

  Well, that's just confusing.

• 55:02Speaker 05

  And he said, thanks for all the great stuff. And that is from Benjamin Bowden Lee.

• 55:07Josh Clark?

  Thanks a lot, Benjamin Bowden Lee. That was a great email. We appreciate it. Any email that references Smokey and the Bandit, we're all right with.

• 55:14Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 55:14Josh Clark?

  Well, if you want to email us about Smokey and the Bandit or anything else, we'd love to hear from you. You can send it to [email protected].

• 55:27Speaker 04

  Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

• 55:43Josh Clark?

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• 56:24Josh Clark?

  Hosted by Andrew Stratton, these perspectives highlight that life is more than a moment, a condition, or a tough day. Living with a rare disease can be challenging, but it does not define the Voices of VivGart. In these episodes, they share their stories, from diagnosis to working with their care team on their treatment plan. Listen to Voices of VivGart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everybody. I am here to talk to you about Dude Wipes, who offer fragrance-free wipes that are made with 99% water and plant-based ingredients. So they're gentle enough for sensitive skin, but they're tough enough for even the worst messes. Weather cleans better, and Dude Wipes flushable wipes deliver textbook freshness and ultimate clean.

• 57:05Josh Clark?

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