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What does dusting off an old book, smelling fresh flowers, or meeting a friend's furry companion for the first time have in common? Within one to two minutes your body may begin a series of dramatic reflexes called sneezing.1 While an otherwise ordinary and common reaction for some, there's meaning hidden behind every 'achoo,' like what triggers it and how to find relief.
The Chain Reaction Behind a Sneeze
It all starts with a simple itch or a faint tickle in the nose. As it turns out, sneezing is far from a simple reflex. When an irritant enters your nose, it doesn't just sit there; it kicks off a rapid-fire message system designed to protect your airways and lungs.2
That message system starts with nerves inside your nose. Special sensors detect the irritant and send a signal through a nerve to your brainstem. Your brain then coordinates a fast response: a deep breath, closing your throat, and a powerful burst of air meant to push the intruder out.2
Quick fact
Sneezes can travel up to 100 miles per hour and involve muscles all throughout your body from your diaphragm to your eyelids.3
Histamines: Tiny Messengers Causing Big Reactions
At the center of each sneeze reflex, and many other allergy symptoms, is histamine, a naturally occurring chemical that means well but can come off a little dramatic. Histamine does its job by protecting your body against potential threats entering the nose, but in doing so, sets off a flurry of bothersome symptoms.4
Double Take
Histamines aren't the enemy—they're the messenger responsible for activating certain receptors and systems to help trap invaders and clear the airway.2
Sneezing may seem like it runs the show, but it's just part of a larger cast of symptoms working behind the scenes. Potential threats and invaders (which may be referred to as allergens) can cause itchy or watery eyes, a runny or stuffy nose, and coughing. These symptoms happen because inflammation spreads beyond the nose to nearby tissues like the sinuses and eyes. Together, they form your body's full response to what it mistakenly thinks is a threat.
Connecting the Dots
An oral antihistamine like ZYRTEC works as an anti-allergy medicine, blocking histamine effects like sneezing, runny nose, itchy, watery eyes, and itchy nose or throat.
Know Your Triggers, Know Your Treatment Options
Knowing what causes your symptoms is often the first step in taming them. Sneezes, sniffles, and itchy, water eyes aren't random inconveniences; they are signals. While uncomfortable (and bothersome) these reactions help trap allergens and move them out of the body as quickly as possible.
By paying attention to the things and environments you are exposed to when these signals occur, you'll be able to identify when your body is responding to something it sees as a threat. These so-called threats can vary greatly from grass and tree pollen found outdoors or pet dander and dust mites that mostly live indoors, leaving little escape from exposure to these irritants. With the help of ZYRTEC you can get up to 24-hour relief from over 200 different allergens, giving you peace of mind that almost any of those triggers you have discovered will be covered.
The more you understand what allergy symptoms are and how they work, the easier it becomes to identify your triggers and take steps toward relief with allergy medication like ZYRTEC to help block histamines responses and adjusting daily habits to make managing symptoms a lot less mysterious and a lot more manageable.
24-hour indoor & outdoor allergy relief
For itchy eyes, sneezing, runny nose, itchy nose or throat, and more.
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