Since you’ve been sneezing since before you understood what a nose was, you know that your eyes automatically snap shut before you can bask in that post-sneeze satisfaction. But...can you sneeze with your eyes open? Or is there any truth to the rumor that some terrible fate will befall your eyes if you try? We asked experts for some answers.Here’s why we sneeze.You’re typically inclined to expel those sudden, forceful, germ-filled bursts of air from your nose and mouth when something is irritating the mucous membranes (moist tissues that line parts of your body) of your nose or throat.
Experts don’t know why people close their eyes when they sneeze. They do have some theories, though.One is that you close your eyes when you sneeze to protect those delicate organs from the particles and microorganisms bursting from your mouth and nose, Kelsy Steele, O.D., a clinical instructor in the College of Optometry at The Ohio State Univesity Wexner Medical Center, tells SELF. In theory, that gunk could get into your eyes and cause anything from irritation to an infection. As a result, it’s thought that closing your eyes when you sneeze “could be an adaptive protective mechanism,” Dr. Steele says. If that’s true, your body deserves a hearty pat on the back.Another theory is that the eye-closing part of a sneeze is simply due to a series of involuntary muscle contractions, Dr. Reisacher says. Muscles in your face squeeze as you sneeze, he explains. (Hence the wonky facial expressions that are part and parcel of this biological process.) “Some of those muscles surround your eyes, so when they contract, your eyes close,” Dr. Reisacher says.
Contrary to what you may have heard, trying to sneeze with your eyes
open doesn’t mean your eyeballs will pop out of their sockets. However,
there is technically a (nearly negligible) chance that you could try this and experience a condition called globe subluxation.
This means your eyeballs temporarily and painfully protrude forward far
more than they should, basically like an eyeball dislocation.
You sneeze and your body reacts. Your eyes squeeze closed and your heart seems to jump. Did your heart just stop?According to the UAMS’ Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, your heart doesn’t exactly stop.When you sneeze, the intrathoracic pressure in your body momentarily increases. This will decrease the blood flow back to the heart. The heart compensates for this by changing its regular heart beat momentarily to adjust. However, the electrical activity of the heart does not stop during the sneeze.Cardiologist Dr. David Rutlen would agree with this logic. However, he says that when this change happens, the heart could momentarily stop.“This is something comparable to a valsalva maneuver,” Dr. Rutlen says. “Built up pressure in the chest can cause a vagal reaction pertaining to the vagus nerve, which is part of the nervous system that control the heart, that slows down the heart. The heart could hold in place for several seconds.”Even if it’s possible for the heart to stop, Dr. Rutlen says that this is nothing to be concerned about.
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