Is it true that when you sneeze your heart stops?

Question

Is that why people say bless you?

Answer 1

No, think about multiple sneezing people! You say bless you because Victorian people thought that if you didn't, your soul was leaving you body throuhg the sneeze.

Answer 2

Good question. I don't know for sure. I've heard both. Nevertheless, it is generally folklore that when you sneeze you expel demons. To prevent them from getting back inside you someone must say "God Bless You" or " Bless you".

I don't personally go in for that kind of phobia or superstition. If the heart does skip a beat it may be due to the body's electrochemical processes being interrupted and diverted to the energy needed for the sneeze. Then again, it just could be that during a sneeze it is not possible to detect a true heart beat. I personally tend to believe the heart does NOT stop. But that's just my opinion - I'm no expert.

Answer 3

no, your heart doesn't stop for a split second when you sneeze. That would just be silly, wouldn't it?

Your heart comes equipped at no extra charge with something called the S-A node. It's a bunch of special cells in your right atrium that crank out the electrical charge that makes your heart beat. It gives your heart muscle a little jolt 60 to 100 times a minute or whatever your pulse rate is. It's your natural pacemaker.

Sneezing has no effect on these electrical goings-on, so your heart beats away just like always.

That said, a good sneeze does involve your heart to a degree. That intake of breath that precedes a sneeze brings a change of pressure in your chest, and that might affect your blood flow and your heart rate a bit.

Sneezing is pretty complicated business. When pollen or dust or some other irritant annoys your nose a nerve in there alerts your brain, which takes charge of coordinating the sneeze. This involves muscles in abdomen, diaphragm, chest, throat, vocal chords and eyelids.

They all work together to force air out of your chest and through your nose at speeds of as much as 100 mph in order to blast out whatever it was that was annoying you.

And, yes, it is very difficult to sneeze with your eyes open.

But, no, it is not true that if you did sneeze with your eyes open they would pop out.

The muscles in your eyes are located at the front of your eye sockets to hold the eyeballs in place and not behind them.

In other words, there is nothing behind your eyes to contract and push your eyes out.

So why do your eyes close when you sneeze? Nobody knows for sure. It's just the way you're hooked up.

As to the bless-you part, nobody seems to know where that came from either.

It's been going on forever. Pliny mentioned it in his Natural History in A.D. 77.

The most common explanation is that the blessing is offered in hopes the sneezer isn't coming down with something worse, like the plague or something.

So bless you all.

Answer 4

People say "bless you" because in the old days they thought sneezing gave evil spirits a chance to invade your soul.

Your heart beats once per second and that's how long a sneeze lasts so your heart "stops" anyway, each second.

Answer 5

Yes. But for half a second! So u sneeze, the hear stop, goes back and you finish sneezing.

Answer 6

yes it very true thats why some people like freak out when some one sneezes alot because it can cause you to have a heart attack

Answer 7

Thats what i heard. i think it just skips a beat, cause if it stops that means you die. Lets say you sneeze 6 times in a row like me then that means your heart stops for six seconds or so. Wouldnt you Die.

Answer 8

No, you sneeze in between beats!

Answer 9

no,people say bless you because sneezing was the first sign of the plague,so if tyou snnezed they said bless you cos they thought you were going to die,same as the song ring o ring o roses,pocket full of posies ,atish you atish you we all fall down

Answer 10

Yes.Thats why people say God bless you.