Does Your Heart Stop When You Sneeze?

You can normally feel a sneeze coming on. There’s the buildup of a tickle in your nose. Then, it happens — your eyes reflexively close and your body releases a burst of air in an attempt to remove irritants from your nose, like dust and pollen.

But does your heart stop when you sneeze?

Though it may feel like it, your heart doesn’t stop.

Cardiologist Kenneth Mayuga, MD, gives us the scoop on what happens to your heart when you say achoo. (Gesundheit.)

The difference between your heart stopping and skipping a beat

There’s an important difference between your heart stopping and your heart pausing.

“When we talk about the ‘heart stopping’ in medical terms, we generally mean a pause that lasts at least three seconds,” explains Dr. Mayuga.

Such a long pause can be a sign of a heart rhythm problem, like heart palpitations or an arrhythmia.

The good news? Sneezing, as a normal body function, doesn’t generally cause those long pauses.

While they usually aren’t anything to worry about, sneezes do have the power to slow down your heart rate, at least for a short time. But it doesn’t skip a beat.

“The heart doesn’t beat at a fixed rate,” points out Dr. Mayuga. “It speeds up and slows down all the time, depending on many factors.”

For example, your heart ramps up when you’re running and slows when you’re sleeping.

What happens to your heart when you sneeze?

When you sneeze, the following may affect your heart:

• An increase in intrathoracic pressure: This change in your chest pressure briefly compresses your heart, which affects blood flow.
• An increase in vagal tone: This activity in your vagus nerve helps regulate your heart rate. An increase may speed up your heartbeat temporarily.

“While sneezing may have the potential to slow the heartbeat for a very short amount of time, overall, we don’t see it causing clinically meaningful pauses,” says Dr. Mayuga.

Your heart’s rhythm is momentarily thrown off-kilter. But your heart doesn’t really stop.

“We know this because we have heart monitors that can record your heart rate and rhythm for up to four years,” he continues. “These monitors are designed to detect clinically meaningful heart pauses, which is something we generally don’t see with sneezing.”

Can sneezing lead to something serious?

Some people may experience a phenomenon called “sneeze syncope.” Syncope (pronounced “SIN-ko-pea”) means fainting or passing out. When this occurs, the sneezer’s heart rate and blood pressure drop so low that they can feel dizzy or even pass out.

“Such a phenomenon is very, very rare even among people who have syncope in general,” reassures Dr. Mayuga.

Sneezing doesn’t cause any harm

Sneezing is a normal body function — and it typically doesn’t cause your heart any harm.

The moral of the sneeze story? If you faint or feel dizzy when you sneeze, talk to a doctor. If you just sneeze a lot? You might want to talk to an allergist.

But don’t worry: Your heart can handle it.