posted
Eeew, but then it goes through the tissue to your hands. I'm trying to teach my daughter to "aim at her elbow."
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I got into the habit of sneezing into my sleeve when I worked at a grocery store. You really don't want to sneeze on your hands as you're scanning and bagging people's groceries.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
I do it into my sleeve now because that seems to be the best place. Hands are not always the best place and your sleeve muffles the noise better then your hands.
How many of you are LOUD sneezers. My father, and 2 younger brothers are, for some reason it skipped me but they are SO LOUD it hurts my ears and it scares kittens.
I've always wondered if it was a habit, or just something you are born doing. Their sneezes sound something like this
posted
I am a seriously loud sneezer, and my dad is louder still. It must be genetic, I think. Lego is a fairly loud sneezer for someone his size.
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I guess I'm ahead of the trend in that I normally sneeze/cough into the sleeve/shoulder of my shirt if I don't have a tissue handy.
On the subject of weird sneezes - my dad has always made fun of me because apparently when I sneeze I stifle it (I don't know how to do any differently, it's just how I've always sneezed :shrug:) so I make this strange squeeking noise and don't get the usual wild sneeze explosion.
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by ludosti: hehehe! I loved that silly video.
I guess I'm ahead of the trend in that I normally sneeze/cough into the sleeve/shoulder of my shirt if I don't have a tissue handy.
On the subject of weird sneezes - my dad has always made fun of me because apparently when I sneeze I stifle it (I don't know how to do any differently, it's just how I've always sneezed :shrug:) so I make this strange squeeking noise and don't get the usual wild sneeze explosion.
I used to stiffle my sneezes and they made almost no noise whatsoever. Then one day I realized when I sneeze my body is trying expel foreign elements from my throat and by stiffling them I am working against myself, thus bringing on a greater need to sneeze more often. So trained myself to stop doing it.
I'd suggest you do the same, unless I am wrong.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I'm a sleeve sneezer-or a floor sneezer-for selfish reasons.
For some reason, allergies, photons, or lots of people gossiping about me I sneeze a great deal. Quite powerfully, too. One of these days I'll have to make a count, but I'd imagine my average would be 10-20 a day without obvious triggers like peppers or air fresheners or something.
I don't want that much spit and mucus on my hands, thank you very much. Pretty gross aside from the obvious sanitary concerns, so I most often try to aim straight at the floor away from other people. Not enough (in one, anyway) to be a slip hazard, not a carrier for illness, and not on my freaking hands or clothing.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Why don't people just stifle their sneezes?
If you just close your mouth, it doesn't get out, regardless of how hard you sneeze.
Alternately, you can do what post-sinal-surgery patients have to do and exhale all the air in your system, thereby deflating your sneeze to a pitiful little choo that you should have no problem pulling your lips together over.
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I have TRIED to stifle my sneezes, because I'm a VERY forceful sneezer most of the time, and I'm a "lady" so it isn't very nice. I'm not as bad as my dad, thank goodness, he shakes the walls. However, if I stifle the sneeze, then it itches terribly, and as soon as I breathe again, it comes out without warning. I tend to usually turn away from other people and sneeze into my shoulderish area, since this seems to be the most amiable.
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
I always heard that it's bad for you to stiffle your sneezes, because then all of the germs and gross stuff that your body is trying to get rid of just gets sent back into your throat and into your system. Kinda defeats the purpose.
Posts: 1547 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Being a NICU mom and a germophobe, I adore this video. I never, ever sneeze into my hands and if I sneeze into a tisse, I throw it away by an end immediately and wash my hands (or Purel if I can't wash).
I'd like to add that you should avoid touching your face, also. Your face is a disgusting, dirty, dirty, germ-ridden place and you will get the germy filth on your hands. It's hard for me to go anywhere during RSV and flu season because everyone is constantly rubbing their eyes, wiping their noses, biting their nails, and just generally pawing their faces. Then they all try to touch Aerin.
I know, I know - Monk.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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I'm confused by the seeming conflict between handkerchiefs being bad (because touching them afterward can lead to contamination and reusing the same hankie is a no-no), but sleeves being good (because... you burn your clothes immediately?). Isn't there the same problem?
Posts: 884 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
It's what else the fabric can or will touch before it has time to dry. Sleeves are open to air (dry fast) but rarely contacted in the area discussed (inner elbow), so the germs dry up before they get passed on.
Wet = living bacteria. Wet also = transferrable, as in (undead ) viruses.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
Stifling a sneeze blows mucus and germs back up in the nether reaches of the airways. I haven't a medical link to weigh in yea or nay, but I suspect that a little digging will reveal potential complications that make it inadvisable.
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And for the trifecta: I'd advise to sneeze into an elbow as opposed to onto a floor because the more space between the nose and contact point, the more gets aerosolized. Some particles cannot be breathed in and stick to the respiratory epithelium unless they are of a certain size -- not to big, not too small.
A "cone of force" that is allowed to blossom from the nose and mouth will populate the air with a maximal numbers of the little buggers. More droplets of all sizes --> more droplets of the right size to get breathed in by someone else.
Thus the current advice to sneeze into something other than your hands (cuts down on hand-to-hand*** transmission, from which it is rubbed into someone else's eyes accidentally, etc.) but nearby and quickly-drying, such as the sleeve-covered elbow (minimizes aerosolization of particulate to be breathed in by another as well as minimizes hand-to-hand*** spread).
I think I picked up a bug from eating some candy out of a shared dish at the ofice. I know better -- that is, to eat only wrapped items out of such a dish (kind of like eating only fruit you can peel yourself when a foreign country with different sanitation standards).
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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