But Why – A show for curious kids
Can you sneeze with your eyes open?
5/10/2025 | 2m 1sVideo has Closed Captions
Can you sneeze with your eyes open? Asks Eli from Oklahoma.
I don't know about you, but there's nothing worse than trying to sneeze and missing your opportunity. Maybe you've noticed that even if you lose that sneeze, your eyes naturally start to scrunch up--and if you're able to, they force themselves closed. But what would happen if you kept them open? Well, for one, your eyes won't pop out of your head. But what's going on that causes them to close.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
But Why – A show for curious kids is a local public television program presented by Vermont Public
But Why – A show for curious kids
Can you sneeze with your eyes open?
5/10/2025 | 2m 1sVideo has Closed Captions
I don't know about you, but there's nothing worse than trying to sneeze and missing your opportunity. Maybe you've noticed that even if you lose that sneeze, your eyes naturally start to scrunch up--and if you're able to, they force themselves closed. But what would happen if you kept them open? Well, for one, your eyes won't pop out of your head. But what's going on that causes them to close.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipOne moment you're fine, and the next your face is scrunched up and the pressure builds until... ahh choo!
why do close your eyes whenever you sneeze?
Maybe you've heard that you can't sneeze with your eyes open and that your eyes close to keep them from popping out of your head.
Well, that might happen in cartoons, but not in real life.
Ahh choo!
Sneezes do move pretty fast - stuff is shooting out of your nose at 100 miles an hour.
Sneezes often start when something irritates your nose or your throat.
A signal gets sent to your brain, and your brain is like, “Get this thing out of me!” So it, in turn, sends a message to your chest to quickly contract the muscles, squeezing your lungs.
As that air starts moving up, your throat muscles actually relax and all that air, plus some saliva and mucus, comes shooting out.
No wonder your eyes tend to close.
But don't worry, your eyeballs wouldn't fall out even if they didn't close.
Your eyelids aren't nearly strong enough for that.
Your eyes are actually attached to your head by a bunch of ocular muscles, and those muscles are not about to let your eyes fall out.
You could actually use your fingers to hold your eyes open while you sneeze, and your eyes would be just fine.
But that sounds really uncomfortable so I wouldn't recommend trying it.
Our eyelids close when we sneeze because of an involuntary reflex that tells them to.
Reflexes tell us to pull away from something hot or jerk a knee if it's tapped by a doctor.
Biologists think this reflex might actually exist so that the stuff that's shooting out of our nose doesn't get in our eyeballs.
Gross.
I'll keep sneezing with my eyes closed, thank you very much.
One moment you're fine, and the next.
Your face is scrunched u and the pressure builds until... ahh choo!
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But Why – A show for curious kids is a local public television program presented by Vermont Public