Halting sneezing by blocking the nostrils and mouth should be avoided.

Stifling a sneeze can rupture your throat, burst an ear drum, or pop a blood vessel in your brain, researchers warned Tuesday.

Many people—when they feel a sneeze coming on—block all the exits, essentially swallowing the sneeze's explosive force.

Just how dangerous this can be was illustrated when a 34-year-old man showed up at the emergency service of a hospital in Leicester, England recently, with a swollen neck and in extreme pain. "The patient described a popping sensation in his neck after he tried to halt a sneeze by pinching the nose and holding his mouth closed," doctors detailed in a study published in the medical journal BMJ Case Reports.