How 'bout THAT, Vern ?

I've never heard of this. Why some people sneeze when the sun comes out.

I WAS rounding the corner to the bus stop when it hit me - a bright shaft of sunlight smack between the eyes. My reaction was immediate: an unpleasant prickling in my nose, a quickening of my breath, an uncontrollable watering of my eyes. Then, almost as quickly as the sensation came, relief, blessed relief. Aaaaa-tisshoo! A sneeze.

It wasn't the first time. In fact, the same thing happens every time I go into the sun. For a long time, I thought it was a quirk all of my own. Then a friend mentioned she was similarly afflicted. Next my mother came out of the closet. With a bit of digging around I came to a startling realisation: not only am I not alone, but the "photic sneeze reflex" is actually common. Quite how common, no one knows exactly - but anything between 1 in 10 and 1 in 3 of us might be affected.

From J-Walk Blog:

There's about 40 comments on that post with people saying they are afflicted. I guess it's pretty common. Either I don't have this problem or I've never noticed it -- but I shall pay attention from now on. Lots of people said they can speed up the sneeze (if it's taking forever) by looking at a light. You can read the comments of fellow sufferers here:

One of the commenters (Lawrence) also offered this:

There's also another *interesting* sneeze related reflex related to sexual arousal - sometimes referred to as "Honeymoon Rhinitis", where a person sneezes as arousal begins-see answer #2 at http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/3863

I guess they have to watch porn with a box of kleenex close at hand.