I awoke this morning to a barrage of sneezing. I had not had my eyes open for more than five seconds and I was already reaching for a tissue. This is my life once allergy season begins in September.

All of a sudden I wondered, why don’t I sneeze while I am sleeping? All my life I have had these allergies and just this morning my curiosity got the better of me. I wondered at what point of the day does my brain tell my nose “no more sneezing for today”. I know that when I have a cold or the flu, a cough wakes me up, or even keeps me from falling asleep, but I have never been kept awake or woken up by a sneezing fit.

Well, I did find the reason by going online. I do that a lot; always have. Once, when my daughter was three years old, while on a walk around the block, we happened upon a swarm of ants. We stopped to watch them carrying food items to their nest. She then asked me if ants had teeth. Not being quite comfortable with the internet back then (dial-up, you know), we took a trip to the library to look it up. It is what I do and always have.

So why don’t we sneeze while we are asleep? Here is a very nice answer to this question, if you want to know:

Sneezing is a protective reflex in response to a stimulus in the nasal mucosa. The stimulus has to reach the brainstem center before the brain's neurons trigger a response via neurotransmitters. During sleep, especially in REM sleep, the activity of many of the brain's systems declines and the reflex arc is not completed because the neurotransmitters are not activated. So sneezing doesn't occur despite the stimulus.
(Thanks to NewScientist.com)

Now I want to know why is it that I get sneezing fits while I am driving? Hmm!

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
~Albert Einstein

PS Ants, as all insects, have a mouthpart called mandible which cut and crush the food. Only vertebrates have teeth as we know them. :)