Silver Linings: Sneezing, the body’s reset button

Sneezy is sixth in line among the seven dwarfs in Disney’s 1937 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” as they leave the mine and sing “Heigh Ho” on the way home. With a severe case of hay fever, when the dwarf sneezes, oh boy, watch out! His sneezes erupt with gale force capability and can knock down people, plants, and almost anything else in their path.

Knowing this, the other dwarfs are quick to hold his nose whenever he feels a sneeze coming on. But sometimes he sneezes without warning, telling others, “You can’t always tell. When you gotta, you gotta.”

Sneezes are unpredictable. They offer little warning, just enough — if we are lucky — to grab a handkerchief or tissue or bend an elbow, before they burst onto the scene. Because they are a reflex reaction from the autonomic nervous syste