• Question: why do we close our eyes when we sneeze?

    Asked by billybunsen to Asif, Laura, Lena, Sean, Viv on 20 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by laylazecheeky.
    • Photo: Viv Lyons

      Viv Lyons answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      Sneezes actually produce a great deal of pressure and my understanding is that if we didn’t close our eyes our eyeballs could be damaged

    • Photo: Sean Murphy

      Sean Murphy answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      To keep your eyeballs from popping out!

      Just kidding, we may be protecting our eyes from microorganisms and particles from our sneezes. But it could also be simply because a sneeze is a kind of bodywide reflex in which a lot of muscles contract.

    • Photo: Lena Ciric

      Lena Ciric answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      I’ve also heard that it’s to stop your eye from popping out. I don’t believe it, though.

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