Why can't you keep your eyes open when you sneeze?
341438
Eyeballs popping out when you sneeze is an urban myth.  I have intentionally kept my eyes open while sneezing with no ill effects.  The eye sockets are made of hard bone and are only connected to the sinuses through tear ducts.  Sneezing is a reflex action to the presence of an irritant in the sinus passages.  I would suggest that the reflex involves closing the eyes to prevent the transmission of this irritant into the eyes.
323959
Usually the sneezing relex make your eye lids to close.
726608
Everyone has their own unique style of sneezing.  Based on what you are saying I am guessing that when you sneeze you put pressure in your throat and on the back of your neck and into your shoulders.  The spinal nerves that control your arms are in the back of your neck just at the area where if you put your fingers on the back of your neck and tilt your head backwards, your fingers would be sort of pinched between your back and your head.  If, when you sneeze violently, you put a lot of pressure on your head downwards and bring your shoulders up, it could pinch off those nerves enough to send pain down your arms and even into your hands.  In order to avoid this, just try to do the impossible--change your style of sneezing.  Good luck with that.  If I have not described the way you sneeze, then, I'm sorry, I don't know why you get pains in your arms.\n\nSherril H.,  R.N.
389251
I don't think so, and I've never heard this before.  I have heard that your heart stops momentarily when you sneeze though.
376593
No one knows the reason you close your eyes when you sneeze. There are many possibilities.  the reason held by most doctors is that closing your eyes when you sneeze is a reflex and it's very difficult to change that.  Actually when you sneeze the velocity at which the air comes out is about 99 mph.   During this part of the sneeze, we tense some of our facial muscles an d by doing this tensing (tightening) of our muscles causes our eyes to shut. therefore, i think that closing your eyes is just part of the reflex of sneezing.
152876
well i think it will but people say it is impossible to sneeze with  your eyes open but my teacher told me that his mom a school principal  had a student who did that once in the shower i m not sure but that would be scary
336844
A sneeze happens with tremendous speed and pressure, and you can feel it coming, if a ball is coming at you extremely fast, or anything for that matter, it's our instinctive response to close our eyes. I was in a car accident and as soon as the car went off the road, I closed my eyes, there was nothing else to do. We're just people.
333376
Closing your eyes is a natural reaction for several reasons: strong wind blasts and, of course, sneezing. It's mainly to keep your eyes protected from the resulting dust and mist. Your eyes will not pop out of your head, your actual sockets would hold them in! This is a myth. I don't know how it got started, but it's not true.
51374
If you get dust or pepper up your nose.Or ifyou smell something you`re allergic to.If you have to sneeze but you can`t then look at something bright.
422229
When you sneeze the air from your nostrils come out with great force (infact stronger than the strongest wind!).\n\nIt is said that if you sneeze with your eyes open, your eyeballs might pop out!! It may be possible as our eyeballs are just held in sockets and do not have supportive structures to hold them in place.\n\nWhen you try to hold back a sneeze, your eyes start watering a little bit.
871528
I doubt it can damage your brain.  But it is bad for you.  You sneeze to expell germs or something irritating your sinuses, so not allowing yourself to sneeze ("closed mouth") allows that germ or whatever to stay inside.  Just let yourself sneeze!
107788
Its to keep your eyes from popping out of their sockets! Just kidding.\n\nActually, ASK Yahoo already adresses this question at http://ask.yahoo.com/20050721.html\n\nHere's a copy of their answer:\n\nDear Yahoo!: \nWhy is it impossible to sneeze with your eyes open? \nKevin\nEl Monte, California \n \nDear Kevin: \nThe received wisdom states that if you don't blink when you sneeze, your eyes will fly out of your head. Thankfully, as is often the case with urban legends, this theory is a load of hooey. Your eyeballs are safe and sound in their sockets. For a funny pictorial representation of this hypothetical scenario, check out this urban myth page from MTV: http://www.mtv.com/onair/big_urban_myth/birth/index.jhtml?choose=Sneezing+To+Blindness\n\nIn reality, a sneeze is simply an involuntary nervous response to nasal irritation. According to this nifty science blog entry (http://sxxz.blogspot.com/2004/12/sneeze-science.html), the sneeze impulse affects a variety of body parts, including the abdomen, chest, neck, and face. During a sneeze, the impulses that travel through your face cause your eyelids to blink. This response is entirely automatic. There's nothing you can do about it. Sneezing puts a lot of pressure on your head and respiratory system, so blinking is probably a protective mechanism. \n\nThe point is that all of these responses (the abdominal contraction, the sharp burst of air out of your lungs, the general lunging movement) are intertwined. When you sneeze, you can't do one without the other.
314007
First of all not all people sneeze multiple times in a row.  The reason for sneezing is your body's primary defense against something trying to get in that shouldn't be there such as dust, pollen, bacteria, etc.  The little hairs in your nose are very sensitive and when something moves them it gets trapped inside and sneezing is how your body expels the invader from your nose or throat if it made it that far although coughing is usually more related to the throat.
162788
Tidbitonebox7 is on the right track.  The nerves that serve your eyes and nose are very close together, and strong stimulation of one can affect the other.  So, if you get a strong light stimulation in your eyes, it can affect your nose nerves and cause you to want to sneeze.  There are similar affects and effects throughout the body.
1013060
i tried that the other day...and i had no problems doing it. \n\njust keep practicing. it'll be all worth it. anything in life worth havin is worth some sacrafice..and pretty soon you, too, will be able to sneeze with your eyes open. just believe
358753
Mechanism of sneezing - Normally, sneezing is an involuntary reflex, which is controlled by a complex interaction of nerve fibres. A variety of receptor sites, situated in the nose, reports about the irritation or foreign substance to the brain for inducing sneezing by releasing histamine, for clearing the nose. Receptors are sensitive to infection, touch, smells of dust, chemical gases, fumes, temperature and exposure to extreme cold air and water (the main offender). Usually, sneeze begins with a deep inspiration and closed glottis, which suddenly opens after gaining pressure from contraction of the diaphragm, abdomen muscles and other muscles which compress the lungs to let out the trapped air with force through nose and mouth. So with an explosive sound, throw of air occurs as a sneeze. Sneezing also involves contraction of the muscles of face, neck and eyes. Sometimes, sneezing air speed is measured more than 120 km/per hour. Normally, people sneeze once or twice during early morning or daytime to clear the nose.\n\nFor more info, go to the source...
480335
it is not possible looking normal or funny your eyes automatically close when you sneeze because your muscles contract