Now you put your fingers on both sides of your nostrils, close your eyes, and then breathe normally.
You will find that when breathing, the left and right sides of the nose work in turn, and one side will breathe more smoothly than the other!
It turns out that the nose is not as industrious as we think, and it will be lazy.
In addition to this cold knowledge, there are many interesting things happening in the nose. Let’s have a look!
When you sleep, your nose does not sneeze.
Think back, even if you have a cold, you have not been woken up by your sneeze when you sleep.
The nose is clever, and it takes great pains not to wake the master. When you fall asleep, the [sneezing nerve] in charge of sneezing will also fall asleep.
Source: ohmagif.com
You sneeze faster than an electric car.
When sneezing, the airflow generated is close to 20 miles per hour.
What about the concept of what? One mile equals about 1.6 kilometers.
In this way, sneezing is faster than that of electric vehicles.(The new regulations in 2018 clearly stipulate that the top speed of electric vehicles cannot exceed 25km/h).
Source: giphy.com
In fact, you quietly ate a lot of nasal mucus.
Every day, your nose produces nearly 1 liter of mucus, that is, about 2 bottles of liquid the size of mineral water, to keep the nasal intima moist and protect your sense of smell.
Source: Internet
When you are ill, the nose will produce more mucus to protect your body, about twice as much as usual.
This mucus acts as a “sticky barrier” to help you catch dust, bacteria and other pollutants and prevent them from entering the respiratory system.
Where did all this mucus end up?
Cilia in the nose sweep mucus to the back of the nose every 10 minutes. Some of them turn into nasal mucus and run out, while the other part turns into nasal excrement.
Most of the rest… is swallowed by you without your knowledge.
Source: giphy.com
The sense of smell has a great influence on the sense of taste.
Many people have encountered such situations:
When you catch a cold and have a stuffy nose, you can’t taste anything. Everything in what becomes light and your appetite is poor.
That’s because people’s sense of taste and smell are inseparable [good brothers]. Their sense of smell is insensitive and their sense of taste is dull.
Source: giphy.com
Obviously, the nose is simply a typical model of labor!
It is not only the [purifier] of air, secreting a large amount of liquid to help you block bacteria and dust, but also the [heating humidifier] of air, allowing you to enjoy comfortable air with a humidity of 95% and a temperature of 36.5 degrees every day.
But there are times when your nose is tired, so you… your nose is stuffed!
Nasal obstruction is not literally blocked by nasal mucus. In most cases, nasal obstruction is caused by swelling of blood vessels in nasal mucosa. In addition, nasal polyps, adenoid hypertrophy, nasal foreign bodies, etc. can also cause narrow respiratory channels, thus causing nasal obstruction.
Imagine a four-lane road at ordinary times, but now only one bicycle can be used. It is strange not to jam it.
Small nasal obstruction
But it has a great influence on life.
Many people think that nasal congestion is a trivial matter, and it will pass away. However, be careful that nasal congestion will bring a series of reactions.
The nose is stuffed and even the throat suffers.
Inflammatory secretions in the nose repeatedly stimulate the pharynx and easily develop into acute pharyngitis, sore throat, foreign body sensation in the throat, excessive phlegm and cough.
If it then develops into chronic pharyngitis, it will be even more painful.
Insomnia, headache, taste and hearing deterioration… All here
Nose congestion can cause you insomnia and headache.
Nasal congestion is often caused by affliction, trouble sleeping, even if asleep, it is easy to snore, affecting sleep quality, and is often accompanied by sinus effusion, making your head painful and swollen, making matters worse.
After nasal congestion, your taste is not so sensitive.
Tongue can sense sweet, sour and bitter taste, and fragrance requires the participation of smell. When smell fails, taste will be greatly reduced.
Nose congestion also affects hearing.
It is not alarmist talk. Nasal congestion is often accompanied by eustachian tube (the pipeline connecting nose and middle ear) dysfunction, resulting in ear tightness, earache, hearing loss and other symptoms.
Such a ordeal will inevitably lead to fatigue, poor spirit, decreased attention and delay one’s work and life.
Small nasal congestion really affects daily life very much. In fact, mastering some scientific methods can relieve nasal congestion very well.
Two Methods to Relieve Nasal Obstruction
Rinse the nasal cavity to remove nasal obstruction
Nasal cavity flushing can timely remove nasal mucus, dry scabs (nasal excrement), allergens and other substances in the nasal cavity, reduce obstruction, reduce nasal mucosa edema, and thus improve the symptoms of nasal obstruction.
Nasal spray and nasal washer are available on the market.
Nasal spray pressure is high and water volume is small, which is suitable for daily health care when flushing with less secretions and nasal mucosa is dry and bleeding. Nasal aspirator pressure is low but water flow is large, which can effectively flush out secretions, but adverse reactions such as nasal pain, nausea and cough may occur.
In addition, attention should be paid to the concentration of brine.
There are two concentrations of nasal flushing saline on the market, isotonic type (0.9% sodium chloride) and hypertonic type (about 2% sodium chloride). Isotonic type is more used for daily care, hypertonic type is more used for treatment. Attention should be paid to the concentration when purchasing, please purchase under the guidance of a doctor.
Nasal cavity flushing can be done many times a day, and has certain therapeutic and nursing effects on acute and chronic rhinitis, allergic rhinitis and nasal surgery.
However, nasal irrigation takes effect slowly. For acute rhinitis or acute secretory otitis media and other complications, it is still necessary to cooperate with faster drug therapy.
Reasonable Use of Drugs to Reduce Nasal Mucosal Congestion
There are two kinds of commonly used drugs to relieve nasal congestion: nasal decongestants and nasal glucocorticoids.
Nasal decongestant is a common drug for the treatment of nasal obstruction, which can quickly reduce nasal mucosa congestion and edema. It is quick, economical and convenient.
Among them, the nasal decongestant drug represented by cilazoline hydrochloride is a kind of drug with faster effect and stronger effect.
It is commonly used for the treatment of common cold (acute rhinitis), acute attack of chronic rhinitis, adenoid hypertrophy in children and acute secretory otitis media.
This article has been reviewed by Wang Yi, Master of Pharmacology, Sun Yat
Source of cover photo: www.hizy.net Genuine Photo Library
Editor: Zhu Zhu