The other day (and most days) when I’m brushing my teeth and my tongue in particular, I usually have that gag reflex (a.k.a. pharyngeal reflex or laryngeal reflex) kick in. I try to be careful, but it happens more often than not when brushing my tongue.
So I got to thinking. Why is it when I get my toothbrush a little too far back on my tongue I have that retching feeling from deep down in the pit of my stomach? BUT when I have food on the back of my tongue I don’t gag—unless it’s mixed vegetables? GAG!!!
One in three people apparently don’t have this reflex, according to a study. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. The gag reflex can keep you from choking on things that shouldn’t be that far back in your mouth. But just how this reflex can tell the difference between my toothbrush and my supper, I don’t know. (Not that I’m trying to swallow my toothbrush, because I’m not. I just want to brush my tongue like I’m told I’m supposed to.)
And other people—like sword swallowers—have trained themselves to suppress this reflex. I’m not sure how one would go about training themselves to not gag. I suppose if I were a sword swallower this would be a good talent to have, but since I’m not, I can gag with the best of them.
So then I wondered about a couple of other enigmas. My husband brings up this conundrum. Why will a dog hang its head out a car window going fifty-plus miles an hour and love it, but if you blow into that same dog’s face, he/she hates it?
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| Photo by Andrew Pons on Unsplash |
I guess like people, we can enjoy something when we have control over it, like hanging one’s head out a window. I don’t have control of someone else blowing in my face. I wouldn’t like that either. Breath mint please.
While I’m on this topic, why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle? I think the answer has something to do with exposure to air. But still, shouldn’t it stick? I mean there is some air in the bottle.
I know that there are scientific answers to all of these, but I’m not looking for that—even if I understood the science when it’s explained. I just want to ponder these enigmas for a time.
So, what is it about banana peels that so freaks out cats?
Hmm . . .
NEW RELEASES
“Holly & Ivy,”my #HistoricalRomance novella in A BOUQUET OF BRIDES COLLECTION, takes place in 1890, in Washington State. It’s about a young woman who accompanies her impetuous younger sister on her trip across the country to be a Christmas mail-order bride and is helped by a gallant stranger. #BouquetOfBrides
A doctor or an Amish wife? She can choose to be only one…Kathleen Yoder comes home after fourteen years in the Englisher world. Practicing medicine means sacrifice—no Amish man will want a doctor for a wife. Widowed Noah Lambright offers a cottage as her new clinic, seeing how much Kathleen’s skills can help their community. But as their friendship deepens, could love and family become more than a forbidden dream?
#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance
MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January 2018, Courting Her Amish Heart in March 2018, The Widow’s Plight in July 2018, Courting Her Secret Heart September 2018, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December 2018. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.
Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:
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