• Question: Why don't we sneeze while sleeping?

    Asked by Resh@science to Hayley, Jimi on 17 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Hayley Moulding

      Hayley Moulding answered on 17 Mar 2016:

      Oh great question. Funnily enough, we are actually more likely to sneeze when we sleep! When we lie down, the bits in our noses and in our breathing system get a bit bigger and that might cause us to sneeze more. However, there isn’t much airflow while we sleep or isn’t anything to irritate us as we are not moving about lots. So nothing is making us sneeze. If someone threw lots of dust on you though, you would sneeze loads during sleep!!!

    • Photo: Jimi Wills

      Jimi Wills answered on 17 Mar 2016:

      yes, sneezing is kind of a reflex, so you do sneeze in your sleep, but it’s unlikely ti wake you up, so we just don;t realise.

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