http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/health/10real.html?no_interstitial
Blowing your nose to alleviate stuffiness may be second nature, but some people argue it does no good, reversing the flow of mucus into the sinuses and slowing the drainage.
Counterintuitive, perhaps, but research shows it to be true.
To test the notion, Dr. J. Owen Hendley and other pediatric infectious disease researchers at the University of Virginia conducted CT scans and other measurements as subjects coughed, sneezed and blew their noses. In some cases, the subjects had an opaque dye dripped into their rear nasal cavities.
Coughing and sneezing generated little if any pressure in the nasal cavities. But nose blowing generated enormous pressure — “equivalent to a person’s diastolic blood pressure reading,” Dr. Hendley said — and propelled mucus into the sinuses every time. Dr. Hendley said it was unclear whether this was harmful, but added that during sickness it could shoot viruses or bacteria into the sinuses, and possibly cause further infection.
The proper method is to blow one nostril at a time and to take decongestants, said Dr. Anil Kumar Lalwani, chairman of the department of otolaryngology at the New York University Langone Medical Center. This prevents a buildup of excess pressure.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Blowing your nose can create a buildup of excess pressure in sinus cavities.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
And not blowing your nose can create a buildup of excess snot on your sweater.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
Never kiss yer honey
When yer nose is runny
You make this is funny
But is not
Updated On: 2/10/09 at 01:00 PM
Ewwww. A boogie thread.
This is why I pick my nose and wipe it on the person next to me.
AAAAAAAHHHHHH!
You are the grossest Doodle!
I feel like I'm in third grade again....good times.
*reminds self never to sit next to doodle*
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
I use a neti pot, which drastically reduces the amount of nose blowing I do.
Doesn't matter where you sit, for some us the Pick and Flick method.
Waste not, want not.
Pick your nose and EAT IT!
stopitstopitstopitstopit!!
You're all grossing me out! (*runs screaming from the room*)
oh ew ew ew
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Speaking of boogers- my cat gets these ginormous eye boogers- big booger-like globs that collect at the corner of his eye. When he's got a big one, he jumps up in my lap and I pick it for him- and he eagerly gobbles it up from my fingertip! It's a touching, lovely moment between a human and his cat!
Joe, ever try to taste it yourself? Might heighten the moment.
All this grossness reminds me of a boy on the bus in elementary school who used to flip his eyelids inside out. Totally freaked me out.
Back to the I love being a girl thread where we discuss civilized things like our periods and what we like to call our coochies.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
SNAFU, he would NEVER forgive me! Once, when I was eating trail mix from a bag that LOOKED like the one his treats came in, he was pissed for a week.
Hey stockard...isn't your show on???
Ah!!!
WHY DID I OPEN THIS THREAD!!!!!!!
Im gonna throw up..
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
This is worse than sitting next to the kid who wipes his boogers on the desk and doesn't wear deoderant!
I blow my nose a lot. Maybe that's why I have so many nosebleeds.
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