In Cecil’s recent article about holding in sneezes - http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010427.html - the questioner claims to be able to contain her sneezes “by quickly holding my nose and shutting my mouth.”
When I was younger I observed people behaving similarily and thought, my, how suave, no messy sneezing all over the place or loud noise, I must try that myself. Next time I felt a sneeze coming on, I held my nose shut, closed my mouth, and blew my ears off.
Well, not quite, but the experience was quite painful and if I hadn’t released my nose during the last microseconds of the sneeze I shudder to think what would have happened to my eustachion tubes.
So what I’m wondering is, can other people really seal their nose and mouth and sneeze, without experiencing pain etc? Where does all the air in their lungs go, if they do?
I did this for a period when I was a kid. This was over 35 years ago, so my memory’s a bit hazy. IIRC, I didn’t do this on every sneeze, just the ones that came on very suddenly. That meant I didn’t take a real big breath before the sneeze, so there wasn’t a complete lungful of air to hold in, making it easier to tolerate.
I also had rather severe asthma with asthmatic bronchitis at the time. This meant episodes of struggling for breath and coughing my lungs out, both of which I’m sure sent my blood pressure way up. Compared to that, holding in a sneeze wasn’t a lot worse.
Now, of course, with the greatly improved treatments for asthma, I haven’t had attacks like that in decades, and holding in a sneeze would not be fun.
I’ve never tried to do that, but I have successfully held off a sneeze by holding my breath. Although normally only useful in allowing time to get a tissue or handkerchief up to my face, occassionally, I would end up not having to sneeze at all.
As someone who suffers from allergies, I suggest keeping your mouth open while holding your nose. That way, the air is released, but you don’t have to worry about blowing snot everywhere.
I always thought that you sneezed through your mouth, not your nose, and that the nose thing was a common misconception. I’ve never tested it though, but that’s teh way it feels.
