Can You Sneeze with Your Eyes Open?

Why you always close your eyes when you sneeze is an extremely interesting thing.

Sneezing belongs to the body's own defensive respiratory reflex. During a sneeze, hundreds of muscles in the face are fully relaxed and the eyes close naturally. A sneeze starts with a deep inhalation, followed by a sharp contraction of the diaphragm, producing a burst of extremely forceful exhalation. During this process, the person's mouth will open, and a burst of gas will be ejected from the mouth and nose, thus sneezing bursts.

When we sneeze, the pressure generated in our lungs, mouth, and nasal cavity is very strong, and the expelled air can flow out at speeds of up to 160 km/h, reaching up to three or four meters away. If our eyes were open during a sneeze, this strong pressure could potentially harm the delicate lacrimal duct and even cause damage to the optic nerve. Therefore, humans have developed a protective instinct to close our eyes when we sneeze. This reflexive action is an unconscious response triggered by the body's natural respiratory reflex and has evolved over time to protect our eyes from harm during a sneeze.

Not only the respiratory muscles, such as the diaphragm and costal muscles, will vibrate violently, but also the muscles of the neck, face, and forehead will also be tightened. This process causes the orbicularis oculi muscles that close the eyes to contract simultaneously. Because it uses the facial nerve as the pillar together with the facial muscles, it closes the eyes naturally. When sneezing, the nervous system needs to be completely concentrated.

Now, we've got the answer that one can't sneeze with their eyes open. What's more, A sneeze can be interrupted. If a person slaps you or otherwise disturbs you just as you're about to sneeze, the sneeze is likely to fail.