Did you know people typically don’t sneeze while asleep?
During sleep, especially the REM stage when your brain is most active, the parts of your nervous system that control reflexes like sneezing are dialed way down. It’s like your sneeze reflex is snoozing right along with you.
And there’s a smart reason for that.
REM sleep is when your brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and dreams vividly. To prevent you from acting out those dreams (or flailing every time a tickle hits your nose), your body goes into a kind of temporary paralysis, including most of the muscles used to sneeze.
Even if something does irritate your nose during the night, the sneeze is usually delayed until you’re awake or in a lighter sleep stage. That’s why you might wake up with a sudden achoo!