I’m one of those people with a very strong gag reflex. The tongue depressors that doctors use when looking down throats are almost enough to induce vomiting. If someone throws up near me, there’s a good chance that I will lose my lunch too. I have a hard time cleaning rotten food out of the refrigerator and sometimes have trouble with dirty diapers.

An episode of CSI that I saw a couple of years ago (season 3 episode 7, “Fight Night”), has helped me with this problem. It turns out that smiling suppresses the gag reflex. If you can maintain a wide grin, you won’t throw up. Very often I can be found with a Joker-like smirk on my face while dealing with an unpleasant situation.

I’m curious to know whether anyone else has learned something useful from a network prime time drama that they actually use in everyday life. MacGuyver doesn’t count!