![Can you keep your eyes open while sneezing?](https://img.passeportsante.net/1000x526/2016-12-23/i68198-peut-on-garder-les-yeux-ouverts-tout-en-eternuant.jpg)
December 23, 2016.
Although this action is difficult, it would still be possible to sneeze while keeping your eyes open.
Sneezing, a reflex that affects many muscles in the body
It is customary to say that it is impossible to close your eyes when you sneeze. And yet, science is not so categorical on the subject. Two American scientists recently declared that, although this reflex is difficult to counter, it would be possible to open your eyes while sneezing.
Sneezing is a protective reflex that allows us to protect our body from foreign particles by eliminating them thanks to the evacuation of a puff of air. But sneezing is more than just expelling air. When the brain commands a sneeze, it also acts on many muscles, from the esophagus to the sphincters, including the muscles that control the eyelids.
Some people are better able to close their eyes when sneezing
” Closing my eyes the body also protects itself from foreign bodies that could enter through the eyes Says Dr. David Huston, a researcher at Texas A&M college in Houston, United States.
According to the latter, this reflex can however be countered and some people would find it easier than others to keep their eyes open while sneezing.
To find out more: Why do we sneeze?