Heart is one of the most important parts of our body. It is a fist sized organ which pumps blood throughout the body. This is one of the primary organs of our circulatory system. The heart contains 4 major sections which are made of muscles that are powered by the electrical signals. Nose is also an important organ of our body that helps us to breathe and smell. And you might also know that when we sneeze from our nose, which is also called as stimulation, it is actually the way of our body to expel the foreign materials from the respiratory tract, such as pollen or dust.
This is a very common myth among people that the heart of a person stops when they sneeze. So if you also wonder does your heart stop when you sneeze, then you will find it in this article below as we got you covered with all the information.
As you scroll down, you will find out complete details about whether your heart skips a beat when you sneeze or not, including a breakdown on why and how it all happens. So just continue to read below to check out all the information.
Does your heart stop when you sneeze?
When a person sneezes, the whole body reacts in a way. The eyes get closed and the heart also seems to jump. So did your heart exactly stop when you sneeze?. Well, the heart basically beats because of the electrical signals that come from the sinus node, which is a small mass of tissue that is present in the upper right chamber of the heart or atria. So according to various reports, the heart of a person does not really stop when you sneeze.
And this is because when we sneeze, it does not really affect the electrical signal which controls the heart rate. Instead when a person sneezes, it develops a big change of pressure in the chest and also the blood flow to the heart. And when these sudden changes happen, it affects the heart rate and gets it thrown off for just a second, which feels like our heart has stopped beating, but that’s really not the case and it just affects the beat for a second.
So a simple answer to does your heart stop when you sneeze is absolutely not. And so this myth that the heart of a person stops when theft sneeze might be coming from the fact that a sneeze has the ability to affect the rhythm of the heartbeat, but it definitely does not stop it from beating.
Why does our heart skip beat when we sneeze?
As you read above about whether your heart stops when you sneeze or not, below is a breakdown of what actually happens when you sneeze, so that you can better understand why it happens. So check out-
- You inhale deeply right before you sneeze- As we inhale before we sneeze, it builds up extra pressure in our chest, which basically slows down the blood to flow to our heart, which lowers the blood pressure and increases the beats of our heart per minute ie. BPM.
- Your throat closes up- Now, you might be quite familiar with the throat’s sensation of feeling blocked just right before you sneeze or cough, which actually makes people think- does your heart stop when you sneeze. So this basically allows the cavity of your abdominal to maintain an intrathoracic pressure which is built up to help expel all the air that is in the final step of sneezing.
- And then you violently and suddenly exhale- And when you finally sneeze, all the pressure that is built up all the way in the abdominal gets released very quickly. This then speeds up the flow of blood back to your heart and increases the pressure of blood, which eventually lowers the beat per minute or BPM all at once.
And all these changes in the flow of blood and its pressure results in the interruption of your heartbeat, as your heart starts to compensate for the sudden increase in the blood pressure.
Also, the vagus nerve which winds up all the way from our brain to the large intestine is also involved in cardiac interruption. One of the main functions of this nerve is to reduce the heart rate, and so when it gets stimulated by a sneeze, it generates an immediate response which is to lower the heart rate. And so in combination with the increased blood pressure and decreased BPM of the heart, the heart simply gets thrown off its rhythm for a second.
What are the reasons that cause sneezes?
After finding out does your heart stop when you sneeze and what actually happens, let us look at the situations or conditions which cause a person to sneeze. So sneezing is one of the ways of the body to remove the foreign substances and objects from the respiratory tract. The tract includes lungs, throat and the nose. A lot of times, a person might inhale something which irritates this tract, and this triggers a person to sneeze. Some of the most common irritants of a sneeze are pollen, spices and dust particles. A few other common causes of a sneeze are as follows-
- Allergic Rhinitis- So when a person comes in contact with an allergen, the nasal tract becomes inflamed, which is basically called allergic rhinitis, and so sneezing is one of its main symptoms. There are various medications which could treat it.
- The common cold- Sneezing is one of the main symptoms of the common cold, which usually is a result from a viral infection of the respiratory tract.
- Flu- Influenza or flu is also a respiratory illness which results from a viral infection, and it also triggers sneezing a lot.
Thus, this is complete information about does your heart stop when you sneeze, how and why this stopping of heart happens due to increased pressure and blood flow and what are the common causes behind sneezing!