Is it true that when someone sneezes their heart stops beating?
461348
Yes, that is why people say "God bless you" after you sneeze.
375161
In a word, no, your heart does not stop when you sneeze. From my perspective, it is hard to even imagine what this would mean. A sneeze itself is really a very brief event, occurring in a shorter time then a heartbeat. Of course, there is the building up to the sneeze (the "ah" of the "ah-choo"), but the heart certainly does not stop beating because of this ah-ing. Check your pulse next time to prove this to yourself.\n\nAs I answer this question, I am trying to imagine just how the heart might even "know" that you are sneezing. The heart beats because a small part of it called the SA node has a "pacemaker" activity. What this means is that there is a type of electrical cycle going on that triggers beats roughly once every second. Sneezing does not change this electrical cycle, so the heart keeps beating. Said a different way, the muscle of your heart is a big mass of electrically active tissue, and this electrical activity will not stop because of a sneeze, or anything else for that matter.\n\nAnd yet, a sneeze is definitely a complex cardiovascular event. As you "ah" and "choo", you significantly change the pressure inside your chest, which in turn affects blood flow and thus the beating of the heart. Still further, I assume that a sneeze involves a significant activation of certain pathways of the "autonomic" (roughly means automatic) nervous system. These also innervate the heart and do affect the frequency and other aspects of the heartbeat.\n\nSo MAYBE the rapid culmination of these inputs OCCASIONALLY causes the heart to "skip a beat" after a sneeze. Notice I did not say "stop". We all experience skipped beats once in a while, some more than others. You may notice it as a "fluttering" in your chest, a sensation that generally evokes a bit of anxiety. What happens is that there is occasionally a discoordination of the normally organized pathways of electrical activity in the heart. Sometimes one part of the heart does not conduct the beat appropriately, or more commonly, another part actually manages to beat ahead of schedule, thus throwing the whole beat off. Either way, you get one beat that does not occur correctly. But all this means is that you have to wait for the beginning of the next electrical cycle to come around, at which time a normal, organized beat will occur (assuming that we are talking about a normal heart!). You see, the heart didn’t stop, really, since the electrical cycle was still ongoing. It just got out of synch for a while. Again, I am not actually aware that this happens with any increased frequency after a sneeze, but I suppose it is possible.\n\nTom Wilson, MD PhD \n\nhttp://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/mar98/890925984.An.r.html
707980
One traditional explanation for the custom is that it began literally as a blessing. Pope Gregory I the Great (AD 540-604) ascended to the Papacy just in time for the start of the bubonic plague in AD 590 (his successor succumbed to it). To combat the plague, Gregory ordered litanies, processions and unceasing prayer for God's blessing. When someone sneezed (seen as the initial onset of the plague), they were immediately blessed ("God bless you!") in the hope that they would not actually develop the disease.\n\n\nSuperstition\nOther explanations are based on superstitions and urban legends about sneezing and what a sneeze entails. Some well known superstitions that may have contributed to bringing "bless you" into common use are:\n\nThe heart stops when you sneeze (it doesn't), and the phrase "bless you" is meant to ensure the return of life or to encourage your heart to continue beating. \nA sneeze is the expulsion of some sort of evil, and the phrase is meant to ward off the evil's re-entry. \nYour soul can be thrown from your body when you sneeze, and saying "bless you" prevents your soul from being stolen by Satan or some evil spirit. Thus, "bless you" or "God bless you" is used as a sort of shield against evil. \nA sneeze is good luck and saying "bless you" is no more than recognition of the sneezer's luckiness. \nAlternatively, it may be possible that the phrase began simply as a response for an event that wasn't well understood at the time.
574231
Sneezing is a reflex that occurs when something irritates the mucus membrane in our nose. Particulate matter, bacteria, and other such things get bogged down in the mucus and tiny hair-like cilia wiggle the potentially hazardous material toward the front of the nose or down the back of the throat. A message is sent to the brainstem, which sends messages all over the body. What happens next?…that great spasmodic reflex we call sneezing, a well-coordinated effort of many muscles working at once…your diaphragm muscle flexes, as do your abdominal muscles, your chest muscles, the muscles controlling the vocal cords, and the muscles in the back of your throat…your tongue raises to block your mouth…and your eyelids close. Air is forced out of your nose, sending thousands of bacteria-filled globules of snot into our immediate atmosphere…and then, as good manners dictate…people will invoke higher powers to bestow upon you a blessing. A most sanctimonious event, indeed!
188701
Changes in breathing (rapid inhalation/exhalation) and heart-rate might be linked to it somehow. That might explain the venous involvement...something to do with circulation perhaps which is aggravated by the sneezing fit?
348729
I read something about it being impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. Even if you try your eyes would automatically close. I think they would pop out if they were taped open.
861263
It stops the heart from beating.
893428
"Odaijini" (take care of yourself), if anything at all.  We don't have a custom of saying something to someone who have just sneezed.  The phrase is commonly used for someone who's ill (one assumes that if someone sneezes, that person is catching cold).\n\nThere is a popular belief, though, that if you sneeze, someone somewhere is talking about you.
468529
no its not possible to sneeze without closing ur eyes coz its a reflex action that happenes
203821
no  the heart does not stop, hearts may murmur or skip a beat now and then
564644
the only systems that a sneeze can effect are:\n\nrespiratory (the heart skips a beat when you sneeze [hince why we say bless you])\n\nmuscular (the muscles tighten up when you sneeze [if someone were to sneeze 100 times in one day, they will burn 5 calories])\n\nof course your nervous system ( when you sneeze and your body moves, reacts, or holds your hands up its because of your nervous system tells it to do so.)\n\nwell your immune system is kind of effected. ( its the reason why youre sneezing in the first place)( its getting rid of unwanted air or particles that recently entered your body)\n\nand thats all i believe.
402647
It is not the sun that is stopping you from the sneeze, it is the position of your head. you can look at the moon or a a piece of key lime pie that is floating in the sky and have the same result.
621962
Yes there is!, I'm from South Asia ( india) and there no one really cares if you did pretty much anything to yourself. Sneezing  generates sympathy in other parts of the world which I believe is somewhat ok but it becomes irritating when you hear a sympathetic voice too often. \n\nIf nature produced the sneeze, it took care that no one was hurt by it, so the less you is pretty much redundant.
309214
The heart beats in an irregular beating pattern...From the lungs to causing you to release air in a odd pattern sending of noises...
907417
Heck if i know. I'm asleep. Seriously though. There's no reason whatsoever why a person can't sneeze while asleep. What if you're dreaming about petting a cat and you're allergic to cats? Yes is your answer.\n-\nOk, I read a few articles on sneezing while asleep. They all say a person can't. I still say just because people don't sneeze while asleep doesn't mean they "can't". Tell you what. Let me put some pepper under your nose while you're asleep and let see if you don't sneeze. =)\n.\n.
653552
do you mean sneeze?  or sinus?
978088
I was taught a sneeze is like a burp or breaking wind. It's simply ignored, as though it never happened. Of course if the person needs a handkerchief and doesn't seem to have one, then for a close friend, relative, or business associate, you would provide them with your clean, pressed white linen or cotton handkerchief and not expect to receive it back (ever).\n\nBut I like the "you're sooooooo good lookin'" idea. Lol  :c)