How to Sneeze
TL;DR: Exhale as much as possible (through your mouth) when you are about to sneeze.
We probably have all recently seen the news that a man ruptured his throat by stifling a sneeze.
This injuries due to sneezes are not that uncommon. The most obvious danger is for the eardrums since they have to absorb a big shock. That one is even worse when people try to hold the sneeze (closing the mouth and/or pinching the nose).
However, apparently even your teeth aren’t safe:
Scary, and this doesn’t even include the hygienic effects of sneezes (40,000 droplets that spread the disease).
There are some suggestions on how to stop a sneeze in its tracks. Most of them try to pinch a nerve in the nose to stop the sneeze from happening in the first place. For example, the following video is my top-hit when I search on YouTube:
Personally, none of these techniques work reliably enough for me, though. I’m thus a huge advocate of the “exhale” approach (also mentioned on the Wikipedia page).
the deep exhalation of the air in the lungs that would otherwise be used in the act of sneezing
It’s really quite simple: whenever a sneeze is coming up, exhale as much as possible (through your mouth) so that the sneeze simply doesn’t have any air left. Your body will still go through the motions, but without air not a lot will happen. Since you aren’t rushing air through your nose, the cause for the sneeze is probably still there, so you might still need to blow your nose. However, to me, that’s much much better than an uncontrolled sneeze.