Clearing blocked passages is more important for comfort than for health reasons — but if you are really struggling to stay clear, there are ways to do it. You may just notice some bloodstains on your tissue. You can blow both nostrils at the same time, but you may have a deviation in the midline partition — the septum — which may make it difficult. Deeper inside the nasal cavity, glandular cells are constantly active and can make more than a litre of mucus in 24 hours.
With the help of cilia, tiny hairs on cells that line the airway, this mucus drains towards the back of the nose where it is usually swallowed. When sinuses become infected or inflamed, this can trigger excess or more viscous mucus production.
This is easier said than done when the inside of the nose is congested. So it is fine to either sniff or to blow non-infectious secretions depending on which part of the nose front or back is producing the mucus. To answer this question — or ask a new one — email lastword newscientist. Questions should be scientific enquiries about everyday phenomena, and both questions and answers should be concise. While decongestant sprays are effective , they are probably underused due to concerns about nasal congestion when you stop taking them after long-term use rhinitis medicamentosa.
But further studies have questioned this increased risk. Antihistamines treat nasal congestion associated with hay fever , but may be less effective for treating cold symptoms.
Saline nose sprays have some evidence they work for acute and chronic rhinosinusitis inflammation of the nasal lining and sinuses , and can reduce the need for medications.
They are believed to clear mucus through increasing the effectiveness of the cilia as well as diluting thick and sticky mucus. A related technique, known as nasal aspiration, is when you squirt liquid saline up the nose with a special medical device to flush out mucus and debris from the nose and sinuses.
One study found it lowered the risk of developing acute otitis media inflammation of the middle ear and rhinosinusitis. If you have mucus in the nose, it is probably best to get it out, so blow gently or by clearing one nostril at a time. Use of appropriate treatments can lessen the need to blow, and the force required to clear your nose.
If you are repeatedly blowing your nose you probably have a nasal condition, like hay fever or sinusitis, which should be treated more comprehensively. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. In most of these cases people had underlying chronic sinusitis or an existing weakness in the structure they damaged after blowing too hard. These injuries included fractures of the base of the eye socket ; air forced into the tissue between the two lobes of the lung ; severe headache from air forced inside the skull ; and rupture of the oesophagus , the tube that sends food to the stomach.
One study looked at the pressures generated when people with and without a range of nasal complaints blew their noses. People with chronic sinusitis generated pressures significantly higher than people without a nasal complaint, up to 9, Pascals of pressure. They also found blowing by blocking both nostrils generated much higher pressures than blowing with one nostril open.
Another study comparing pressures from nose blowing, sneezing and coughing found pressures generated during blowing were about ten times higher than during the other two activities. More worrying was their second finding — viscous fluid from the nose had found its way into the sinus cavities after vigorous nose blowing. The researchers said this could be a mechanism for sinus infection complicating some colds, with the introduction of nasal bacteria to the sinuses. But they did not produce evidence for this.
On balance it seems repeated and vigorous blowing of the nose may carry more risk than benefit, even though it seems to be a natural response to nasal congestion. Decongestants and antihistamines , which you can buy without prescription from pharmacies, reduce both nasal congestion and the volume of mucus. Decongestants contain ingredients like oxymetazoline and phenylephrine and come in tablets or sprays, and are often included in cold and flu tablets.
They work by constricting narrowing dilated blood vessels in the inflamed lining of the nose, and decreasing the volume of mucus produced. While decongestant sprays are effective , they are probably underused due to concerns about nasal congestion when you stop taking them after long-term use rhinitis medicamentosa.
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