Eli5 How do we hold our breath under water

Question

Whales have some flappy thing around their blow hole that they seal shut when under water only to open once above. I’m not aware of something like this for humans, yet the air does not gush out when we go underwater

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Answer 1

Typically when a human is underwater, air is trapped in, or rather water trapped out of the nose because we like to keep our head up above our feet. If you swim down without plugging your nose, water will fill your sinus cavity and air will escape.