Can someone please explain this........?

Question

How come when someone sneeze the respond is "BLESS YOU".

Answer 1

because your heart stops when you sneeze

Answer 2

Origins
One traditional explanation for the custom is that it began literally as a blessing. Pope Gregory I the Great (AD 540-604) ascended to the Papacy just in time for the start of the bubonic plague in AD 590 (his successor succumbed to it). To combat the plague, Gregory ordered litanies, processions, and unceasing prayer for God's blessing. When someone sneezed (seen as the initial onset of the plague), they were immediately blessed ("God bless you!") in the hope that they would not actually develop the disease.


[edit] Superstition
Other explanations are based on superstitions and urban legends about sneezing and what a sneeze entails. Some well known superstitions that may have contributed to bringing "bless you" into common use are:

Oxford University Biology Professor, Bindi Perkins suggests: When you need to sneeze, it helps to look at a brighter light or at the sun. Looking at a bright light or at the sun can direct light up into the nasal cavity which in-turn reflects light from the dust particles up into your cerebral membrane. It is here that the sneezing mechanism is triggered.

The belief that the heart stops when you sneeze, and the phrase "bless you" is meant to ensure the return of life or to encourage your heart to continue beating. (Of course, the heart beats because of electrical pulses that are not affected by normal functions like sneezing.)

Your soul can be thrown from your body when you sneeze, and saying "bless you" prevents your soul from being stolen by Satan or some evil spirit. Thus, "bless you" or "God bless you" is used as a sort of shield against evil.
A sneeze is good luck and saying "bless you" is no more than recognition of the sneezer's luckiness.
Alternatively, it may be possible that the phrase began simply as a response for an event that wasn't well understood at the time.

Another urban legend states that you cannot open your eyes while you sneeze, or if you manage to your eyes will pop out. During a sneeze the impulses travel through your face causing your eyelids to blink, this response is entirely automatic.

In many English-speaking countries, the German equivalent, gesundheit (which means "good health"), is used after sneezing or coughing.


[edit] Alternative intent
One other usage of the phrase "Bless you" in response to a sneeze is to bless or thank a person who sneezes but covers his or her mouth and nose with a tissue, handerkerchief, sleeve, or even a hand (hopefully then washing the hands before touching shared items) as an act of concern and courtesy to others, in order to avoid spreading the germs expelled so as not to sicken other people. Presumably, a person who fails to demonstrate such concern and courtesy by not covering the mouth and nose during a sneeze would not be blessed or thanked.

Answer 3

OK it goes originated with Christianity and religions who believe in god when you sneeze or cough or choke people would say god bless you because legend is that when you sneeze your heart stops beating and your soul momentarily exits your body so they were blessing your body and soul to prevent your it your body to be taken over and your soul captured later on when it became more formal people dropped the god and just said bless you because all ppl dont worship god some worship the devil who can bless you(Cristians think of it as being cursed but pagans think of it as being blesssed, all in presentation and perception)

Hope this helps much

Answer 4

I heard from my grandmother when you sneeze your heart stops beating for like half a second and people say bless you because demons or something like that can enter your body..I know it's weird but for some reason I believe it

Answer 5

Because it is said that when you sneeze ur heart actually stops beating for that moment. And since it stops beating just for that one half second, God bless you is a good thing.

Answer 6

It was thought that when you sneeze that you are trying to get rid of evil spirits so people would "bless you" to help protect you and ask god to keep you safe and healthy. Now people say it mostly out of habit.

Answer 7

It was believed when you sneezed, your soul was thrown from your body (actually your heart stops for that split second) and the phrase "Bless you" was said to prevent the devil from seizing that soul while it was out.
Just a superstition. But a kind thought, just the same. Say thank you.

Answer 8

It was an old tale that when you sneezed you had demons in you and you shot one out of your body. Naturally, people would asked thier god to bless them. I pretty sure it went something like that.

Answer 9

It was believed that when you sneeze you are making yourself vulnerable to "bad spirits" entering you, so people would say bless you to protect you and drive away the evil.

Answer 10

It is to do with the Black Death in England... can't remember the year... the same as that nursery rhyme: ring a ring of roses
a pocket full of poses, Atishoo atishoo we all fall down.
If you sneezed you'd had it! You was on your way out.... That's why people would say "bless you".

Answer 11

your heart stops for a second when you sneeze and the bless you is so the devil doesn't enter your body at that second