Why is it that when we sneez our eyes must be closed?
921776
It's a reflex to keep snot our of your eyes.
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.
371550
No, but if you can keep your eyes open, you will not sneeze
607058
we close our eyes to keep them safe from debree and germs eg when you sneeze you automatically close your eyes this is a message from your brain to your eyes telling them that you have sneezed so to keep them closed from germs when you blink it alsokeeps your eyes moisterised \n\ntry to keep your eyes open when you sneeze
853475
Sneezing contracts a lot of the muscles in your face, including the ones controlling your eyelids.\n\nAs for the people answering with the popping eyeballs: LOL!
376602
Whenever I look at the sun (not often, be assured) I don't seem to feel any sudden sneezes coming on. Perhaps your sinuses are shaped as to when you tilt your head back, you trigger a sneeze? Maybe it's temporary, because of a cold or bad sinuses or allergies.\n\nYou should try looking into the sun (not for very long) in the morning or evening when you don't have to tilt your head and see what happens.
493240
closing your eyes is a natural reaction to many events.  if someone blows in your eye, you will naturally try to shut them.  sneezing elicits this response because you are going through a spastic motion and there are lots of particles being hurled into the air.  it is hypothesized that we evolved this reaction to sneezing to keep those particles out of our eyes.\n\nsneezing involves releasing the air in your lungs at very high velocity.  for the most part, your nose and mouth can expel this gas before the pressure in your sinuses gets to a point that it causes your eyes to pop out.\n\nyour eyelids alone can't prevent your eyes from popping out.  try to close your mouth, nose and eyes as tight as you can and see how the air gets out.  also tell the doctors at the emergency room
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.
323959
Usually the sneezing relex make your eye lids to close.
436926
Sneezing feels good because it's releasing pressure -- it's an orgasm* of sort. \n\n*Orgasms are not only sexual for the dirty minds out there!
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.
98543
Some people can sneeze with their eyes open and some people can’t. Sneezing is a reflex and so is closing our eyes. We have no control over whether or not we close our eyes when we sneeze. Some people don’t have reflex, so when they sneeze then their eyes won’t close. Some people try to close their eyes so when they sneeze their eyes won’t pop out. Your eyes don’t really pop out. People without the reflex to sneeze with their eyes open can try to train themselves to sneeze with their eyes open. One good way to do this is if when you sneeze you hold your eyes open.\n\n    People think that when you close your eyes when you sneeze that you are blocking germs and bacteria. That is not true because your eyes deal with germs all the time. If you close your eyes during a sneeze, then it is just a reflex. During this part of the sneeze, we tense some of our muscles. The tensing (tightening) of our muscles causes our eyes to shut.\n\n    People that sneeze a lot can prevent sneezing. If you feel a sneeze, then use saline solution. You can also softly hold your nose at the end. These things can help your body remove things it does not want without sneezing.\n\n    No one knows the reason you close your eyes when you sneeze. There are many possibilities. Some people think it is to protect your eyes from flying goop. Most doctors think that it is still a reflex, or we just can’t help it.\n\n    Sneezing is very good for you and your body because it removes things from your body like bacteria and germs. It also is good because it keeps the tubes that carry the air from your nose to the lungs healthy. Sneezing makes your nose clear when you have a cold. If you used to hate sneezing, then I hope this has changed your mind.
947210
You sneeze because you have something in your nose and your body is trying to get it out.  You don't get it out the first time, or your nose is still irritated.
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.
80603
because scientists studied that if you dont close your eyes when you sneeze your eye balls pop out.
1458
Researchers aren't sure exactly why the sneeze reflex happens, but whatever neurological message tells the eyes to close probably comes from a primitive part of the brain called the medulla oblongata in the brain stem.
149715
It is almost impossible for a person to keep their eyelids open during a sneeze, although some rare individuals report having little if any trouble doing so.\n\nThe sneeze center makes all these muscles work in just the right order, to send that irritating particle out of your nose -- at speeds up to 100 mph