From: judgeparker23x@gmail.com   
      
   Friday, 2 July 2010    
   Can sneezing really help treat depression?    
   by Amber Jamieson    
   Crikey Clarifier    
   100702_Clarifier    
      
   MP Andrew Robb writes in Crikey today about his own personal battle with   
   depression. One quote in particular caught our eye:    
      
      
   I employed various bizarre techniques to try and get myself going. For   
   example, when driving to work, I'd stop a few times, stare at the sun to make   
   myself sneeze, as this would release endorphins and give me a lift.    
      
   There are two big questions to examine here: does looking at the sun make you   
   sneeze, and more importantly, does sneezing help depression?    
      
   Crikey consulted various medical experts and the results are nothing to sniff   
   at:    
      
   Can staring at the sun really make you run for the tissues?   
      
   Yes, in fact the condition even has a name: photic sneeze reflex. It was first   
   noted by Aristotle, according to The Scientific American. And it's not just   
   looking at the sun that makes people sneeze, looking at other types of bright   
   light can have the    
   same affect.    
      
   Can everyone look at the sun and make themselves sneeze?    
      
   This particular phenomenon applies to only a select few. Photic sneeze reflex   
   is a genetic quirk that affects only 10-35% of the population. It's also more   
   common in males than females, and most common with white people.    
      
   Is it bad for you?    
      
   Apparently you should be concerned if you're a combat pilot or perform any   
   other high risk occupation. MPs should be safe, but if you're worried,   
   antihistamines can help cure the problem, suggests Professor Jonathan   
   Crowston, director of the Centre for    
   Eye Research Australia.    
      
   How does photic sneeze reflex work?    
      
   There are a few different theories. One is that it is a congenital malfunction   
   in nerve signals in the trigeminal nerve nucleus, the area responsible for   
   sneezes. When the optic nerve gets overstimulated (i.e. by looking at bright   
   light), the trigeminal    
   nerve is triggered and you sneeze.    
      
   "What this means," says Konrad Pesudovs, foundation chair of Optometry and   
   Vision Science at Flinders University, "is that you have two nerves very close   
   to another, like two electric wires, but the insulation is imperfect, so when   
   you have a massive    
   current in one nerve some of it 'jumps' to the adjacent nerve and an erroneous   
   signal starts, which ends up triggering a sneeze."    
      
   Another theory involves the sunlight causing eyes to water, with the resulting   
   moisture then seeping into the nose, producing a sneeze.    
      
   "The reason we don't really know the answer is that the photic sneeze reflex   
   is a curiosity rather than a serious disease and we tend to focus our research   
   resources into more serious problems. Perhaps mental health is one of these!"   
   notes Pesudovs.    
      
   Well, if we're focusing on mental health, let's look at the benefits of   
   sneezing for depression suffers. Are there any?    
      
   "It's an interesting observation but there are no reports and I've never heard   
   of sneezing helping depression," Scientia Professor Philip Mitchell, head of   
   the School of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales told Crikey.   
   He's also a consultant    
   psychiatrist at the Black Dog Institute.    
      
   "It's unusual. The aspect of it that makes sense is that we know that   
   sometimes bright light can help with depression. Whether that was one aspect   
   of helping him, but the sneezing, there are no reports of it."    
      
   But don't the endorphins help?    
      
   "There's an interest in endorphins and depression, but it's more speculative   
   than well rounded science," says Mitchell.    
      
   So it was the sunshine that helped, not the sneezing?    
      
   "The only possible explanation I can come up with to help the depression is   
   the bright light, particularly in the morning and in the evening. Bright light   
   particularly helps with seasonal affective disorder, which is a form of   
   depression which tends to    
   come on in winter months. There's good scientific literature around bright   
   light exposure for depression," says Mitchell.    
      
   In short, sneezing may not be the answer if you're struggling to cope. But   
   stopping to soak up the sunshine or even standing under a bright lamp of an   
   evening may be one way to deal with dark days.    
      
   http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/07/02/crikey-clarifier-can-sneezin   
   -really-help-treat-depression/?wpmp_switcher=mobile   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)