United States: When I get a stuffy nose, I can’t wait to breathe easily again. Like most people, I grab a tissue and blow my nose. The reason is that our noses make 1 to 2 liters of mucus every day. When we’re sick, the mucus thickens to trap viruses, and blowing your nose helps get rid of the thick mucus, making it easier to breathe, says Dr. Peter Filip, a nose doctor.
Before you honk your nose like some animal, know that nose blowing is practical if done correctly. Contrary to what many people do, trying to blow hard will only make your cold symptoms even worse.
As reported by the CNN Health, like any other nose blowing “it clears it for a while, but there are better ways of ridding that mucus and assisting in the long term,” Filip said.
ENTs advise against using the tissues at all and instead, go out and buy yourself some saltwater sprays. And if you want to blow, count how you do it.
When you have influenza and blow your nose too hard
Blowing your nose often is a big no no, since according to Filip you may actually be causing a backward pressure of fluid draining from the sinuses.
Researchers in a study conducted in 2000 placed a dye in the nostrils of people to identify where mucus goes when the individual blows their nose with force. Imaging scans showed that the dye instead, was flowing backwards through the sinuses from the nasal cavity.
“While some mucus came out, there is some effect of pushing mucus back into the sinuses in a backward direction where you don’t want it to go,” Filip said. “That could potentially lead to exacerbation of an infection,” it said.
It could cause ear pain.
An option got this come from Dr. Kanwar Kelley, ENT in California, and a cofounder of Side Health stated the fluid from the sinuses could pass through a small tube known as the Eustachian tube that links the back of the nasal passage to both middle ears.
Sudden increase of pressure and fluid within the middle ear may lead to possible perforation of the eardrum which may result to any ear infection by bacteria and viruses.
“It is rather unlikely to rupture eardrums due to nose blowing,” said Kelley. “It costs some considerable real power.”