Sneezing? You may be thinking about `sex`

Sneezing a lot? You may be secretly thinking about sex, says a new study.

London, Dec 21: Sneezing a lot? Well, it could mean a lot more than the fact that you have caught cold – you may be secretly thinking about sex, says a new study. Researchers in Britain have carried out the study and uncovered what they claim is a bizarre medical condition where people sneeze each time they either think about sex or have an orgasm.

According to lead researcher Dr Mahmood Bhutta of John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, the link is caused by a fault in the autonomic nervous system - the part of the nervous system that is involved with heart rate, blood flow and digestion. And the condition could afflict both and men and women and is uncontrollable. "It certainly seems odd, but this reflex demonstrates evolutionary relics in wiring of the autonomic nervous system. Sometimes the signals in this system get crossed, and I think this may be why some people sneeze when they think about sex," the Daily Mail quoted Dr Bhutta as saying. In fact, the condition came to light in a middle-aged man who complained to the researchers he had an uncontrollable fit of sneezes each time he was sexually aroused. Subsequently they began searching medical records, and Internet chat rooms, to see if anyone else had a similar problem. "I was surprised by how many people also reported the same reflex in Internet chat rooms. Although Internet reports do not give us an accurate incidence, our findings do suggest that it`s much more common than recognised," he said. According to the researchers, the response might also run in families. "It may be difficult to know, because parents and children are unlikely to discuss such phenomena with each other," Dr Bhutta said. The findings of the study have been published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Bureau Report