Will your eyes pop out if you sneeze with them open?

Each eyeball is firmly attached to several muscles inside the eye socket. The thin eyelid is more like a cover, so closing your eyes doesn't hold the eyeball any tighter. The pressure of a sneeze goes mostly into the nose and airways, and it doesn't build up in the eyes enough to push an eyeball out.

An allergist at Texas A&M's medical school says there's little evidence behind the story that your eyes will pop out if you sneeze with them open. The chance of a sneeze alone forcing an eyeball out is considered extremely low.

When a sneeze starts, your brain signals your chest muscles to tighten and push air out all at once. A signal to close your eyes is bundled in with it, so they shut before you can think. It's a reflex, much like your leg kicking up when someone taps your knee.

No one knows for sure why this reflex exists. The most common guess is that it keeps spit, mucus and dust flying out of the nose away from the eyes. Once a sneeze begins it can't be stopped, and about 18 to 35% of people sneeze when they suddenly see bright light.

Another common myth is that your heart stops for a moment when you sneeze. According to the Library of Congress, it doesn't. The change in chest pressure briefly alters blood flow and the gap between heartbeats, and the next beat can feel stronger, which may make it seem as if the heart paused and restarted. People don't sneeze while asleep, because the nerves involved are resting too.

A 2023 report in BMJ Case Reports described a man in his 30s who tore a 2mm hole in his windpipe after pinching his nose and closing his mouth to hold back a sneeze while driving. With both nose and mouth closed, pressure in the airways can rise up to 20 times higher than normal. Doctors warned that holding a sneeze in this way can also burst eardrums or even break ribs. He recovered without surgery, but it's safer to cover a sneeze with a tissue or the inside of your elbow and let it out.