This Is What Happens When You Delay a Sneeze.
The sneeze is very violent – we can sneeze at 40 miles per hour and up to 30 feet away. And there is nothing worse than wanting to sneeze, but not being able to do it. Sometimes you just need to stop sneezing , but that can’t be good for us, can it?
Dr. Dale Tylor, an otolaryngologist based in Santa Barbara, told Digg what happens if you hold back a sneeze. It turns out that suppressing sneezing is not bad for your health, but also not good.
In the worst case, you could rupture the eardrum or burst a blood vessel in the eye, but this is unlikely. If you stop a violent sneeze, the pressure from the sneeze can spread to your sinuses and skull. This can lead to small gaps in the bones between the nose and eyes, or between the nose and the brain. But those gaps will heal on their own, so there’s nothing to worry about.
To play it safe and prevent sneezing from unlikely injury, release the sneeze. Or, if you need to hold it, release the pressure through your mouth in the form of a cough.