I Have A Cold, Again.

With the return of the wintry weather to the DC area, my head is all congested and I can't seem to shake my latest case of the sniffles. Yesterday's Washington Post Health section offered some timely information, "Anatomy of a Sneeze."

Here's a nice tidbit of information . . . a sneeze can send 2,000 to 5,000 bacteria-filled droplets into the air at 70 to 100 mph.

But what I found interesting in the article is the history of "Gesundheit."

• The Romans said "Jupiter preserve you" or "Salve," which meant "good health to you."
• The Greeks wished each other "long life."
• Pope Gregory the Great coined the phrase "God Bless You" during a bubonic plague epidemic in the 6th Century.
• "Gesundheit" comes from Germany and means "health."

As well, the superstitions associated with the sneeze. "Ancient superstitions held the sneeze to be dangerous. Some believed it caused the soul to escape the body through the nose. Saying "bless you" would stop the devil from claiming the person's freed soul. Others believed the opposite: that evil spirits used the sneeze to enter a person's body. There was also the misconception that the heart momentarily stops during a sneeze (it doesn't), and that saying "bless you" was a way of welcoming the person back to life.

Well thanks to all who bless me when I sneeze.