Sneeze Free Sleep

If anyone played Grilling Goodness last Friday, or if you read my post answering Tina's questions, then you saw her mind boggling question #2.

The one where she asked, "Do you have any idea why we don't sneeze in our sleep?' Then she told us to take a "Wild Guess."

Here was my response:

Hmmm??? Good question, Tina! I have no idea why we don't sneeze in our sleep but I'm sure I will have to go Google it as soon as I finish this meme, thanks alot!

Who says we don't sneeze in our sleep?? Do you know for a fact that this is the case?? Some people talk in there sleep, some people walk in their sleep and my husband holds his breath in his sleep - I tell him all the time that he's not swimming. So, if all that happens in our sleep and we aren't aware, how would we know if we sneeze in our sleep or not?? I'm just sayin'..... But okay, you asked for a wild guess sooo... I'll say that it has something to do with the fact that our eyes are shut (because everyone knows you have to see the light before you can make a sneeze come out, right?!?!) and our brain is in sleep mode; therefore, it is not sending sneeze signals to our sneeze mechanism. There, that sounds good...right???


Is she mad?? Does she not realize that I can't just let a question like this go?? You would think she knows this about me; after all, we have known each other over ten years now. But apparently she wasn't concerned about my sanity when she posed such a bizarre query.

Where do you think she came up with that one, anyway?? Well, I'm not sure what made her think of it; but it was such a good inquiry that my curiosity, of course, got the better of me and I had to go look it up..

Turns out this part of my "Wild Guess" - and our brain is in sleep mode; therefore, it is not sending sneeze signals to our sneeze mechanism - had a little bit of truth to it.

So, for those of you whose curiosity was peaked with this one but were too lazy busy to look it up, here is what I found in my Google Search:


The signs are unmistakable: the eyes water, the chest heaves, the nose twitches, the body tenses, suspense builds... until finally a sneeze blasts forth, concluding the drama. It's a momentarily paralyzing experience that can seize one at almost any time.

But try and recall if you've ever been jarred out of a peaceful sleep by an explosive sneeze. Chances are you can't, because, thankfully, we don't sneeze while we sleep. To understand why, first we need to know why we sneeze while we're awake.

Sneezing is a reflex, which means that it's an uncontrollable physical response to an outside stimulus. When something, say a piece of dust or a strong odor, stimulates nerve endings in the lining of the nose, the stimulus travels to the central nervous system and is then routed back to the muscles of the face, throat and chest. Once stimulated, these muscles go to work and cause us to forcefully expel air from the mouth and nose. Or, in other words, we sneeze.

Because the nose lining tends to swell when we lie down, making it even more sensitive to sneeze-causing particles, it would seem that sneezing would be likely during sleep. However, since there is little airflow in most bedrooms at night, and little movement to stir up dust and other particles, the nose is not bombarded by as many foreign particles as it is during the day. Furthermore, the area of the brain responsible for the sneeze reflex relaxes while we sleep. So, even when a particle does touch the nose lining, the brain doesn't notice, and we don't sneeze.

And now folks we, or better yet, I can officially lay this one to rest. :)