No, your heart does not stop when you sneeze.
A sneeze begins with a tickling sensation in the nerve endings that
sends a message to your brain that it needs to rid itself of something
irritating the lining of your nose. You first take a deep breath and
hold it, which tightens your chest muscles. The pressure of air in your
lungs increases, you close your ey...es, your tongue presses against the roof of your mouth and suddenly your breath comes out fast through your nose.
So where did the myth originate that your heart stops when you sneeze? The changing pressure in your chest due to sneezing also changes your blood flow, which may change the rhythm of your heartbeat. Dr. Richard Conti, past president of the American College of Cardiology, speculates that the belief that the heart actually comes to a stop during a sneeze could result from the sensation of having the heart "skip a beat." When there is a prolonged delay before the heart's next beat, he said, that beat is then more forceful and more noticeable, perhaps as a funny sensation in the throat or upper chest.
So where did the myth originate that your heart stops when you sneeze? The changing pressure in your chest due to sneezing also changes your blood flow, which may change the rhythm of your heartbeat. Dr. Richard Conti, past president of the American College of Cardiology, speculates that the belief that the heart actually comes to a stop during a sneeze could result from the sensation of having the heart "skip a beat." When there is a prolonged delay before the heart's next beat, he said, that beat is then more forceful and more noticeable, perhaps as a funny sensation in the throat or upper chest.
No comments:
Post a Comment