10 Reasons You Can’t Stop Sneezing—and What You Can Do About It

You have allergies

Let’s get the obvious reason you can’t stop sneezing out of the way first. “Sneezing is caused when a foreign particle or irritant hits the nasal tissue,” explains Miguel Wolbert, MD, of West Texas Allergy. “You sneeze in order to forcibly remove the particle from the nasal cavity,” he says. In an allergy, your body has an overreaction to something normally benign, like pollen from plants or animal dander. If sneezing comes with other classic allergy symptoms like a runny nose, congestion, and itchy eyes—especially if you go outside or are around the family cat—then it’s most likely allergies. If not, then it’s something else. As far as what that could be, read on. (Learn about never-thought-of-them ways to treat your allergies this spring.)