My old man was a snorer. His snoring was like the plot of a good action movie, with plenty of rising action. About 15 minutes after he’d fall asleep, it would sound like there was a heard of buffalo racing bulldozers and juggling chainsaws in my parents’ bedroom. It would get louder and louder and then cut off when he finally woke himself up. There would be one final snort, and then a “huh?” After that, there was a small window of silence where the whole house could try and get back to sleep before the noise kicked back up.
You’d think it would follow, then, that we would regularly jar ourselves awake with sneezes, too, but that isn’t the case. Actually, it seems I pulled a trick question out of the mailbag this week, because we don’t sneeze in our sleep at all.
The Roots of the Sneeze
A sneeze is a reflexive response to external stimulants slipping past your nose hairs and reaching the sensitive mucous membranes that line the nasal passage (another common cause is the “photic sneeze reflex,” a genetic trait that causes sneezing when a person is suddenly exposed to bright light). Nerve endings in the membranes send signals to the brain about the foreign invaders, and the brain sends signals to muscles in the face, throat and chest to go ahead clean house by expelling air from the nose and mouth.
We’re actually more prone to sneezing while asleep, since the mucous membranes swell when we lie down, but because there usually isn’t much airflow or movement to stir up dust or other particles while we sleep, the membranes don’t come into contact with as many stimulants as they do when we’re awake.
Our odds of have having to sneeze during sleep are already reduced, but our bodies have a neat little trick up their sleeves to keep us at rest. It’s called REM atonia, a state caused by the shutdown of the release of certain neurotransmitters during REM sleep that results in motor neurons not being stimulated and reflectory signals not being sent to the brain. So, even if there were various stimulants being kicked up while you slept (say, by an evil cat playing with his rubber ball or biting your toes at five in the morning), and a few got into your nose, the brain wouldn’t be alerted to the matter.
It is possible, if the external stimulants are sufficient (say, by an evil cat dusting your mustache with pepper), for a person to wake up to sneeze.
This question was asked by Regina from Texas. If you’ve got a burning question that you’d like to see answered here, shoot me an email at flossymatt (at) gmail.com. Twitter users can also make nice with me and ask me questions there. Be sure to give me your name and location (and a link, if you want) so I can give you a little shout out.
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I am so glad you mentioned the photic sneeze reflex. My Mom did it, my Grandmother did it, and most of my Aunts on my Mom’s side did it. I am so glad it has a name! I always thought we were freaks.
posted by Witty Nickname on 7-31-2008 at 10:13 am
Photic sneeze reflex is a nightmare. Any time the sun is sitting too low on the horizon for my visor to block it, I refuse to drive.
posted by adrienne on 7-31-2008 at 10:16 am
Great article – I always wondered why we (or maybe just I) automatically close our eyes when we sneeze – very dangerous while driving and I can’t seem to fight it – thoughts?
posted by Katie on 7-31-2008 at 11:06 am
Is it totally impossible to keep your eyes open when you sneeze?
posted by bas on 7-31-2008 at 11:15 am
Years ago I had a problem with chronic sneezing. I’d do it all day in fits of a dozen or so at a time. The problem was that I also drove a truck for a living.
Still don’t know what it was.
posted by BassMan on 7-31-2008 at 11:34 am
To a few if those above – Mythbusters did had a segment on keeping your eyes open while you sneeze. It depends on whether you’re asking if we can voluntarily keep our eyes open when we sneeze, or if it’s impossible to keep them open while sneezing, no matter what. The former would be a matter of willpower – maybe that could be the latest stunt for David Blaine. The latter, however, they proved that you can do – they were able to physically hold their eyes open while they sneezed. There is, of course, the requisite slow-motion video of it. It might be on youtube.
posted by caitlen315 on 7-31-2008 at 11:59 am
Ah–I love Mythbusters!
posted by Orange on 7-31-2008 at 1:14 pm
Matt, your mother just let your dad think that his own snoring was waking him up. I bet she was probably nudging or poking him to make him stop. Happens to me every night but if my wife had never told me that I was being poked I’d never know.
Snore – Poke – Huh? – Roll – Sleep quietly – for a little while – until it starts all over again. ;)
posted by Steve S on 7-31-2008 at 1:18 pm
I am so glad you answered this question. Whenever I sleep in the presence of others, I wonder if my sneezes betray my feigned slumber.
posted by Casey on 7-31-2008 at 2:13 pm
That’s not regular snoring you’re talking about that sounds like sleep apnea, it’s when a person actually stops breathing and their airway gets obstructed, that’s what causes the roaring, then the person gets woken up because they have actually stopped breathing, the “huh?”, the result is they never fully fall asleep, they wake themselves up just enough to start breathing again.
It can be serious, a friend of mine died in his sleep because he was very inebriated, and when he stopped breathing because of his apnea he didn’t wake up.
posted by William on 7-31-2008 at 5:58 pm
Yeah, really loud snoring like that is usually sleep apnea, my mother has it. Should get it checked out, it can be very dangerous.
posted by Neodymium on 7-31-2008 at 10:40 pm
I had a sleep study done. No apnea. I simply snore. :) Not everyone who snores has apnea.
posted by Steve S on 8-1-2008 at 12:33 pm
Your dad sounds like he has sleep apnea. Its not just snoring, its when the tongue falls back into the throat (making the snores louder bc the air has to force its way out) and then when they stop breathing their body kicks them awake (hence the “huh”). It’s not particularly dangerous, but over time it puts strain on the heart which can cause a heart attack. Not to mention you can’t get a good night’s sleep when you wake up every 5 mins.
My dad has a terrible case of it. 3 surgeries, a c-pap machine (a face mask you wear at night attached to a machine that forces air into your throat), and now a mouth guard. He hated the machine, but the mouth guard seems to work. It just pulls the lower jaw out enough to keep the tongue from falling back. Look into it.
posted by Amy on 8-1-2008 at 4:37 pm
I’m with William on this one. Your dad probably didn’t “wake himself up” with snoring – it was most likely sleep apnea.
With sleep apnea, people generally snore for a bit, then there’s a pause (meaning they’ve stopped breathing). This is usually followed by a loud snore or snort, during which the person wakes up briefly, then falls back asleep.
I suffer from sleep apnea, and use a breathing machine called a CPAP every night, which has a mask that goes over my nose. I hate it, but I do it because I’m scared of the health consequences if I leave this untreated. At least when I use the machine/mask, I wake up feeling refreshed.
I am 29 years old and 125 pounds, so sleep apnea is definitely not a disorder only for overweight, middle-aged men.
posted by Jaclyn on 8-4-2008 at 10:29 am
This is wrong. I know of plenty of people who sneeze in sleep. I witnessed five minutes ago my wife sneeze six times in a row in a dead sleep. Maybe if you aren’t in REM yet?
posted by Chase on 3-19-2010 at 1:03 am
@Chase, having witnessed one person do it doesn’t qualify it as a rebuttal to this article. There is plenty of scientific evidence for this.
Also some people have the disorder in which their body continues to move (acting out a dream) while they’re in REM sleep. It’s far more likely that your wife has this disorder than this scientific article being inaccurate.
posted by Lols on 8-11-2010 at 7:41 am
You most certainly can sneeze in your sleep — just not in REM sleep. Sleep has multiple phases, and REM is just one of them. In addition to some people not experiencing REM atonia, there are phases of sleep where people are not paralyzed. These are the phases where sleepwalking occurs. (Contrary to popular belief, sleepwalking is not associated with REM sleep.)
Lols — this isn’t a scientific article. It’s a blog. And one observed instance most certainly does contradict the statement that people don’t sneeze in their sleep. Even one person sneezing in their sleep would contradict it. Now, if the article had said *most* don’t, that would be different (though I still take issue with it, since REM atonia would only apply to a portion of one’s sleep. According to WebMD, the proportion of REM to non-REM sleep varies, but in infants it’s usually about half REM, and in adults it’s only about 20% REM. That means for most of the night, you will not be experiencing REM atonia, even if you are entirely normal.
posted by Calli Arcale on 6-23-2011 at 11:55 am
Re: Snoring.
Three words: Breath Right Strips. Get ‘em. They work.
posted by Trotter76 on 6-23-2011 at 12:58 pm
I have been violently awakened in my sleep by sneezing many times in the last few years.. Its very disconcerting to me and the hubby too.
posted by Tiffani on 6-23-2011 at 9:26 pm
You can sneeze with eyes open! idid that once! without holding my eyes!
posted by eriberry1 on 10-28-2011 at 8:29 pm