Why don't people sneeze in their sleep?

[7Days]

I have been wondering about this for a long time.
Surely being asleep would not stop the irritation in your nose that causes it.
I know your body movements are mostly switched off when you sleep, but not totally. You cough in your sleep, after all.

Any science types care to explain ?

Also loons with bats hit theories welcome.

Been meaning to ask this for ages and am now just dashing to work so wont be online for a while.

I think our brain functions are reduced to the minimum when we're asleep. Reaction to whatever would trigger a sneeze when we're awake is switched off.

I assume that the reflex is suppressed when we sleep. Same as swallowing, we don't swallow when asleep either.

I love that you are pondering this before leaving for work 😀

I wake up to sneeze sometimes, if my hay fever is really bad. Am I alone?!

We don't cough in our sleep, we wake up. But we aren't alert awake. As in, our brain is awake but not our body. Which is why we include conversations going on around us, into our dreams. Or think we've drempt something that's happened.

Basically, our neurotransmitters are shut down, so the nerves can't send the signal to the brain, to react to stimuli, which is what a sneeze is.

"Same as swallowing, we don't swallow when asleep either."

We do during Rem 1 and 2.

I do!!! But it wakes me up very briefly. The most annoying ones are when I wake up going uh uh uh uh and no bloody ashoo!! I get hay fever. One morning sharing a hostel bedroom with 3 others I woke them all up with 13 sneezes in a row! Then annoyed them further by rootling around looking for my antihistamines and water to take them! As if I did it on purpose!! I really don't think I could have slept through all that drama!