A: Authorities of no less prominence than Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope claim that there is no truth to this rumor, although one of his readers claims to have burst blood vessels in his eyes in the attempt. I don't know if this seond claim is true, but it seems to follow reason that you will hurt yourself whenever you try to short-circuit your body's defense mechanisms (seeing if you can avoid flinching when hitting your fingers with a hammer, say). So your caution is well-founded, even if you are likely to avoid having to shove your eyeballs back in if you try it.
Incidentally, in the interest of related scientific discovery, my sons have determined that you do not explode if you burp, fart and sneeze at the same time.
1 comment:
You aren't the only person to wonder this and the Mythbusters had to finally give in and test it. And they did in a recent episode with non surprising results. Your eyes are no where close to coming out when you sneeze. There are lots and lots of really strong muscles that connect your eye to you in the back as well as the optic nerve. They aren't going anywhere.
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