sözaltı news Science
Science
EN AZ
Why don’t we sneeze when we are asleep?

Why don’t we sneeze when we are asleep?

newscientist.com 26.08.2026 19:00 2 views
Our readers don’t agree with this statement, and even broaden out their evidence base to their furry companions

The statement is wrong, at least for me: I regularly sneeze while I am asleep. However, the sneeze wakes me up instantly. This happens perhaps once a week, but only once in any night, usually about 10 to 15 minutes after I fall asleep.

Then I just have to blow my nose, turn over and I’m asle­ep again in a few minutes. I have seen my cat sneeze without waking up, but of course cats are very determined sleepers In hay fever season, I am often woken by a sneeze, so it must have started when I was asleep. Also, I have seen my cat sneeze without waking up, but of course cats are very determined sleepers.

So I think we can sneeze when we are asleep, and if it doesn’t wake us up, then we aren’t aware of it. To answer this question – or ask a new one – email [email protected]. Questions should be scientific enquiries about everyday phenomena, and both questions and answers should be concise.

We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a postal address, daytime telephone number and email address. The use of AI tools (e.g.

ChatGPT, Claude) to write either questions or answers is forbidden, and any submissions found to have been written using AI tools will be withdrawn.

Extract — continue reading at the source.

Read full story