Why don’t we sneeze when we are asleep (continued)?Lyndal ThorburnVia email Well, I know people aren’t meant to sneeze in their sleep, but there is at least one factor that does enable people to start to sneeze and then wake in the middle of it. I have vasomotor rhinitis, a condition that is non-allergic inflammation of the nasal tissue, leading to sneezing and a blocked nose. Mine is initiated by strong perfumes, cigarette smoke or a drop in air temperature, particularly if the latter leads to feeling a chill around my torso.
It can strike while I am asleep on a hot night, particularly if I have fallen asleep with few bedclothes on and then my skin chills as the temperature falls. It can even occur if I just have a foot out from under a sheet, and it means I must have at least a sheet on when going to sleep on even the hottest nights. While I mostly wake and snuffle for several hours as a result of this, I recall two occasions when I actually woke up from a deep sleep in the middle of a big sneeze (the “choo” part of “ah-choo”).
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