# Why our eyes close shut when we sneeze **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 24, 2000, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-our-eyes-close-shut-when-we-sneeze/1012 "2000-03-24T01:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![\_PromQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b77776/32.png) [@\_PromQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_PromQueen)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2000, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-our-eyes-close-shut-when-we-sneeze/1012/1 "2000-03-24T01:55:00Z")
In a column about wether your eyeballs will pop out if you leave them open while you sneeze, Uncle Cecil said that your eyes automatically close shut if you sneeze because it’s a reflex, yet it supports no purpose. I remember being told that your eyes closing when you sneeze is because you don’t want sneeze debris in your eyes. I wonder what the strait dope is! ---
**Author:** ![Stonecutter912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Stonecutter912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonecutter912)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2000, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-our-eyes-close-shut-when-we-sneeze/1012/2 "2000-03-24T05:01:00Z")
Like the appendix and the fifth toe, I think it’s a reflex from eons past. Seems to me it’s rather destructive in its potential…a sneezing fit at 150 klicks on the highway would remove a person from the gene pool very effectively! I think the eyeball-popping explanation is as good as any. It might even happen, were you to prop the old eyelids open and take a shot of snuff… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2000, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-our-eyes-close-shut-when-we-sneeze/1012/3 "2000-03-24T05:21:00Z")
Have you _seen_ Marty Feldman? case closed. ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2000, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-our-eyes-close-shut-when-we-sneeze/1012/4 "2000-03-24T14:09:00Z")
With great effort, I can keep my eyes open when I sneeze. I must report, there ain’t much to see… * * * “The dawn of a new era is felt and not measured.” Walter Lord ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2000, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-our-eyes-close-shut-when-we-sneeze/1012/5 "2000-03-25T06:10:00Z")
Cecil’s column: [If you hold your eyelids open while sneezing, will your eyes pop out?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_304.html) ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2000, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-our-eyes-close-shut-when-we-sneeze/1012/6 "2000-03-25T06:10:00Z")
Arnold, you are the apple of my eye. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-our-eyes-close-shut-when-we-sneeze/1012/7 "2000-03-26T05:35:00Z")
As Cecil alluded, the reason probably is that setting up completely separate “circuitry” so that you could sneeze without closing your eyes would be too expensive to justify the evolutionary cost. Which is going to help in the struggle for survival more: a few extra neurons devoted to finding prey, or instead devoting a few neurons to making sure that your eyes stay open when you sneeze? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-our-eyes-close-shut-when-we-sneeze/1012/8 "2000-03-26T23:03:00Z")
You’re welcome JillGat. Though of course your comment has awakened my boundless curiosity. I might just go have to ask in GQ where the expression “apple of my eye” comes from.