• Question: Can you sneeze underwater?

    Asked by spongebob2012 to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 26 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Wait there a minute. OK I did it, putting my head in the sink after sniffing pepper. Made a mess of the floor though.

      Any further requests?

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Sure, sneezing is not something that you can control. Your body does it to clear out your nose, so if something irritates whatever the trigger is, you’ll sneeze even if you’re underwater.

    • Photo: Philippa Bird

      Philippa Bird answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      But surely your nose is less likely to be irritated by dust or whatever underwater?

Comments

  • Photo: Tom

    Tom commented on :

    OK, seriously then. As you can’t breathe underwater, its pretty unlikely you’ll get anything up your nose. If you accidentally breathe in some water, I still don’t think you would sneeze it out.

    When you sneeze, you inhale a bit first – so perhaps your instinct to hold your breath would overcome your reflex to sneeze?