Is it bad to hold in a sneeze?

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Question: Is it bad to hold in a sneeze?

Answer: Your body has multiple defenses against intruders. In the case of dust, pollen, mold, smoke, bacteria, airborne powder, and infected mucus, all of which are intruders which can penetrate your airways, your most natural first line of defense is to forcibly eject them, through a sneeze.

Normally this doesn’t pose a problem, but there might be times when you’re tempted to hold your sneeze back, such as when you’re with other people, particularly when you’re in a quiet place like a library, a church, or a symphony concert hall. Sneezing is actually an amazing phenomenon. To prepare for a sneeze, your body builds up tremendous air pressure in the lungs. The amount of pressure is considerably greater, even, than the respiratory pressure you build up when you undergo intensive exercise. Slow-motion videography has revealed that droplets are expelled from your nose at speeds approaching 100 miles per hour! And it’s important to note that holding in your sneeze builds up even more pressure, by a factor of 5 to 24 times more pressure than a regular sneeze.

All of this pent-up pressure has to go somewhere, and that place is, usually, the ears. Which means your eardrums might pop, or you might develop a headache. But more serious problems can occur, as well. The pressure that builds up can cause damage to the blood vessels in your eyes and nose. It can force infected mucus into your middle ear, resulting in an ear infection. And in extreme cases it can lead to ruptured ear drums, hearing loss, diaphragm injury, aneurysms, throat damage, broken ribs, and/or vertigo. For all of these reasons, you should never hold in a sneeze. It’s perfectly normal, and socially acceptable, to allow your sneeze to emerge, so long as you’re protecting the people around you by covering your mouth and nose, preferably in the crook of your arm.