Forum: lifehacks.stackexchange.com
Tags: <personal-care>
Title: How to avoid a loud, embarrassing sneeze?
Question: How do I prevent myself from sneezing loudly? Apparently my loud, embarrassing sneeze wakes up neighbors of my presence in the building.

Answers:
sents: text: This might take some training, as it is counter-intuitive, but it works like magic for me: As soon as you feel the urge to sneeze building up, exhale completely .
text: You might have to try a few times to find out how early in advance you have to start, and how fast or slowly you have to exhale.
text: The idea is to have exhaled completely at the "point of no return", but also that you don't suffer.
text: In the end, if there is not much air inside you to burst out explosively, it will not make a significant noise.
text: Good luck!
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/17290/Flo
score: 4
sents: text: Personally, I hold in every sneeze.
text: I can't say I recommend it, as this article points out:
text: "The risk of a hearing loss injury due to holding a sneeze is low.
text: However, it is not impossible.
text: "
text: Wiki's page on sneezing does a good job explaining what happens in a sneeze.
text: Basically, nose hairs send a signal to the brain, which starts a massive response in the upper body's organs to expand and then contract the chest violently.
text: Since this signal is sent through the nerves, there are lots of ways to try to stop the sneeze completely.
text: For example , some ideas from this wikiHow page are rubbing your nose, pinching the bridge of your nose, pinching the tip of your nose, pulling on your ear, etc.
text: These suggestions come from the idea of sending another signal down the nerve and thereby sort of messing with your brain.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4513/seadoggie01
score: 3
sents: text: Simple trick which always works is to press right below your nose.
text: In most cases you will completely avoid sneezing.
text: Good luck!
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/17303/pdolinaj
score: 2
sents: text: If you can't avoid the sneezing, then sneeze into the crook of your arm.
text: When wearing a long-sleeved, preferably soft and thick piece of clothing, this will muffle the sneeze to a good degree.
text: This solution has the advantage that it's available in time for every sneeze.
text: And in general, it is microbiologically much safer than sneezing into your hand – as in, potential germs will not spread with the next handshake, touching things etc..
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4673/tanius
score: 2
sents: text: Sneeze into a folded towel or pillow will muffle the sound.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/15377/paparazzo
score: 1
sents: text: While the sensation is building up, try to force the sneeze out, with all your willpower.
text: It sounds weird but actually works.
text: Anytime I was on the verge of sneezing and tried to force it out and get it over with, the need to sneeze subsided.
text: Using that actively requires a little bit more willpower, since you're trying to build up the intention to do something you actually don't want to while trying to avoid doing it involuntarily.
text: Make sure to blow your nose afterwards, the cause of irritation will probably still be somewhere in your sinuses.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/17380/Estharon
score: 1
sents: text: If you're awake when you sneeze, trying to hold your breath or plug your nose before the sneeze comes out makes the sneeze a lot less explosive and therefore quieter.
text: Keeping your mouth closed will likely help as well.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/17289/Kendra
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
If you want to simply avoid sneezing, you try a number of techniques. These include exhaling completely just before you feel you need to sneeze or disrupt the sneeze response by pinching the bridge of your nose, pulling on your ear or touching just below your nose. It may also be that trying to force the sneeze out early actually makes the sneeze sensation go away. Finally, if you want to just make your sneezes less loud, you could muffle them using your elbow or a pillow or folded towel.
The options are to exhale fully every time you feel the need to sneeze, hold the sneeze in, press down on the skin below the nose to prevent the sneeze, try to sneeze into a folded towel or pillow or the crook of your arm to muffle the sound, try to force the sneeze out before it erupts or plug your nose and block your mouth.