I hold 90% of my sneezes but people keep telling me its not good to do so. So I decided to do a quick search on this issue and it turns out holding a sneeze doesn’t inflict physical internal damage. The worse that could happen is I would get an infection.
“Have you ever tried to hold in a sneeze? Here’s why you shouldn’t: A sneeze is your nose’s way of keeping things like dust, pollen and bacteria from being inhaled. These are given the boot by being forced out of your nose at terrific speeds — over 100 mph. If you try to prevent a sneeze by pinching your nose closed or holding your breath, you’re creating tremendous pressure. That pressure can force bacteria from your nose back into your sinus cavities or your ears — and the result could aggravate an underlying infection.”
[Source]
Update: Tawateeto just commented the following: hey my dads a doctor, i asked him and he said these effects r very rare, the infection is very rare and comes after a very long time, but he says holding it in can bother u for the same reason u wrote, some ppl also think if u open ur eyes while sneezing ur eyes pop out, but thats total crap they just shift in position and u can actually never manage to open ur eyes while sneezing unless ur holding them open its a very strong natural reflex
29 replies on “Is it dangerous to hold in a sneeze?”
been doin that since i were a kid always wanted to get rid of the habbit
now am glad i dun’t really have to but there’s somin’ bout a hadith i heard oh well
i always hold it
hey my dads a doctor , i asked him and he said these effects r very rare, the infection is very rare and comes after a very long time, but he says holding it in can bother u for the same reason u wrote, some ppl also think if u open ur eyes while sneezing ur eyes pop out, but thats total crap they just shift in position and u can actually never manage to open ur eyes while sneezing unless ur holdin g them open its a very strong natural reflex
your dad may be a doctor but there much more complications that can arise from holding in a sneeze from ruptured eardrums. to hemerages in your brain
anyone who says otherwise doesnt know what they are talking about
I bruised my neck (felt bruised). I held sneezes for 10 years or so then everytime I held my sneeze it hurt, so I stopped and I don’t hold sneezes anymore.
I just did that too myself my throat is fucked up. how long did that effect last? me it has been 2 days before and its hard to swallow.
I hold in a sneeze almost every time i have to sneeze.. i do feel a lot of pressure in the side of my neck. Sometimes i feel that my veins will burst, but that wont stop me from holding it in, in the future, eh..
When your driving, you have to hold in a sneeze, or youll crash.
No You don’t actually my dad does it all the time and he dnt crash so basically
You dnt hVe to hold ur sneeze : I mean u can if u wanna cause damage or so on but my dad just slows down when he does it
I have a friend who use to get yelled at for sneezing so he taught himself how to hold it in. Problem is it is painful for him and I would like to try to find some help in teaching his body to sneeze again if anyone has an idea can you please let me know. Thanks
Hey, just tickle his nose with pepper or a feather or something tickly…….
I would imagine that you don’t spread as man germs if you hold it in. Imagine if we all held our sneezes, perhaps in time we would eradicate the cold virus once and for all, instead we keep it alive by constantly spreading it AHHhHh.
i have held my nose while sneezing since i was 6. it started bc i hated how when i sneezed, snot would explode from my nose. it was humiliating. i learned to hold in my sneezes. now at 20 years old, i had the “big” sneeze and instantly felt like something teared open in my head, right on my right temple. the pain gradually lessened with time, but now every time i sneeze w/ my nose held i get this sharp pain. i try to not hold my nose, but im just so used to it. i dont know how to sneeze normal like everyone else. im going to get a cat scan taken tomorrow. my fear is that a small vessel bursted and im bleeding internally, or that i got a blood, or something worse. im terrified..
-yiz
I just randomly came across this page becuse im trying to find a way to make me sneeze .. no pepper around the house unfortunately!
I’ve had some sort of weird infection/swelling just below one of my eyes that none of the doctors can work out what it is! i keep telling them its swine eye flu but they wont believe me :p . anyhow what i was getting to was that just as i got in i had a really long sneezing fit , normally i hold it in as well but this time just went all out! and i noticed that the swelling in my eye went down a bit .. hence why im trying to sneeze some more lol
… in conlusion … maybe sneezings good for more than just getting rid of germs .. either that or its just letting out the pressure from years of holding in sneezes!!
I JUST WANNA SNEEZE RIGHT NOW XD
ANY 1 KNOW HOW TO SNEEZE WHENEVER U WANT TO?
-Mark B
I knoew this is over two years late, but you can try this.
When I was younger and would try to skip out on school, I would take a piece of yarn. I would stuff it up my nose. Not to far. Anyways, it results in a sneeze every single time.
It got me out of going to school quite a few times. That is, until my mom caught me. haha
when you sneeze with your eyes open well its about impossible to do but they tested it on myth busters and they proved that you cant sneeze your eyeballs out
Speaking from experience about 6/7 months ago I held my sneeze and I burst a blood vessel in my eye, Kid you not took me almost two weeks to heal. Thank GOD it was on the top part of my eyeball so that my lid covered it.
To make yourself sneeze u swist a piece of kleenex really long but skinny and shove it up your nose and wiggle it against the side closes to the middle go up till you find it. works for me:)
I’m watching this while sneezing lol!!
I’ve had allergy problems my whole life. I’ve talked to many doctors about it they all said it was a dangerous habit. fyi.. An allergy is a hypersensitive disorder of the immune system. Allergic reactions occur to normally harmless environmental substances known as allergens; these reactions are acquired, normally cause sneezing …… So it’s normal and healthy to sneeze. So stop holding it in!!!! You all look wierd when you hold it in anyway!
I get a reverse hernia when I hold my sneeze in…it freaking hurts. It’s a natural reaction now…I don’t know how NOT to hold it.
It is very dangerous to hold in a sneeze. I researched this and it can cause severe brain damage, damage to the lungs or diaphragm and your sinuses and ear drums.
exactly the person who wrote this artical who says all that can happen is getting an infection doesnt know what they are talking about you can even have a hernia
Do some serious research and you will find that holding in a sneeze can be very harmful, and can do damage to anything from your brain to your back. There is a great deal of force being turned aside from its natural outlet when a sneeze is suppressed, and that force will go somewhere else, and quite possibly do damage. I herniated a disc when I foolishly suppressed a sneeze many years ago, and have lived with the consequences ever since.
Last night in front of a salad bar I held in a sneezed. When I got home 2 hours later I realized I blew a blood vessel in my eye. Pretty bad. Im 35 years old and I cant believe I did this. The vessel bled all night and my whole eye is red right now. So dont hold in your sneezes 🙂
I’m learning the hard way not to hold in sneezes anymore. My left ear hasn’t popped yet and I’m starting to get worried. I can hear out of it, but it sounds…low toned, like muffled almost. I’m hoping nothings wrong, because my right ears just fine…
this is rare but if you try to hold you sneeze you may pop a blood vessel in your head and die but mostly happens to older people so holding it is not so dangerous but still not the best i hope you get over that habit and let that nose explode lol
I just held my nose while I sneezed and after reading all this IM SCARED!!! ;'( I’ve done it before and so has my brother And nothing happened. But now I hear a slight ringing in my right ear. WHAT DO I DO?!?!