I’ve been catching colds every month since my kids started daycare, and lately I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to clear my stuffy nose. It’s always blowing. I also became intimately acquainted with neti pots and various nasal decongestants. (Ask what actually works and run off behind the counter.) And on sleepless nights, you try to clean one nostril, then the other. I spent hours turning from side to side.
This whole experience has shown me that stuffy noses are much weirder than I thought. Firstly, the nose is actually two noses that work in alternating cycles and are somehow connected to the armpits.
The claim that humans have two noses was first suggested to me by nasal expert Ronald Eccles, who ran the Cold Center at Cardiff University in Wales until he retired a few years ago. . It may sound silly, but think about what your nose, or noses, looks like inside. Each nostril opens into its own nasal cavity and is not directly connected to any other nostril. They are two separate organs, just like his two eyes or his two ears.
And far from being a passive tube, the hidden internal structure of the nose is constantly changing. Eccles said the lining is lined with venous erectile tissue, which has a “similar structure to the erectile tissue of the penis” and can become engorged with blood. Infections and allergies can increase the swelling to the point where it completely blocks the nasal passages. This swelling, not mucus, is the main cause of nasal congestion. Therefore, even if you drain your nasal mucus, it will not completely resolve your stuffy nose. “You can blow your nose until the cows come home, so the swollen tissue won’t be blown out,” says Timothy Smith, an otolaryngologist at Oregon Health & Science University’s Sinus Center. Gently blowing your nose can help clear mucus that can worsen nasal congestion, he said. However, decongestants such as Sudafed and Afrin constrict blood vessels in the nose, opening up the nasal passages and temporarily relieving symptoms.
In a healthy nose, the swelling and resolution of nasal tissue usually follows a predictable pattern called the nasal cycle. Every few hours, one side of my nose becomes partially clogged and the other side opens up. Then they switch, go back and forth, back and forth. Although the exact pattern and duration will vary from person to person, you will rarely notice any changes inside your nose. “When you talk to people about the nasal cycle, most people have no idea about it,” says Guilherme Garcia, a biomedical engineer at the Medical College of Wisconsin. I’ve never been like that, and I’ve always breathed through my nose. But when I thought about it consciously, the idea quickly made sense. When you’re feeling unwell and the extra swelling changes from partial congestion to full congestion, you tend to feel more congested on one side than on the other.
If you are aware of your nasal cycle, you will be able to control it to some extent. In fact, when I turned to my side during a sleepless night, receptors in my armpits were unconsciously activated. open the other side of the nose. This may be an age-old survival reflex. Lying down on your right side may cause your left nostril to be farther from the ground and less obstructed. Yogis learned to use small crutches called “crutches” placed under their armpits. yoga danda, direct your breath into one nostril or the other.and online hacking In case of nasal congestion, it is recommended to squeeze the bottle under the opposite arm. However, the effect is not instantaneous. I tried this recently and my arm got tired before my nasal congestion cleared up. When I tried again, using the old crutches I had with me after my knee injury, it took a few minutes, but by then I was already reaching for tissues out of impatience and habit.
Eccles said it’s not known exactly why humans have nasal cycles, but cats, pigs, rabbits, dogs and rats also have them. One hypothesis is that this cycle helps protect against pathogens. When the erectile tissue in the veins contracts, antibody-rich plasma is squeezed out onto the lining of the nose. Each cycle has the potential to replenish nasal defenses. Eccles also noted that upper respiratory viruses appear to prefer temperatures slightly below body temperature. If one side of your nose is partially blocked, it may be warm enough to ward off the virus. Alternatively, he said, this cycle allows you to rest half of your nose from time to time. Unlike our eyes, ears and mouth, the nose functions 24 hours a day, every day, and must constantly filter and warm the air for the delicate tissues of the lungs. A nose job may not sound that difficult, but consider its role. The air we breathe is probably 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 35 percent humidity, Smith says. “By the time the air enters the nose and returns to the nasopharynx, which is probably three to four inches, the temperature is 98.7 degrees and the humidity is 100 percent.”The nose is a very powerful small HVAC system. .
But that could also be a mistake. Our noses do not directly measure airflow. Instead, it relies on cold receptors that are activated when cold air passes by. These cold receptors are Deceived by menthol etc.. Dr. Eccles found that people given menthol lozenges were able to hold their breath for longer, perhaps because they were fooled by the cooling sensation of the mint and thought they still had air in them.That’s why Vick’s VapoRub causes congestion feel There was no positive effect on the opening of the nasal cavity, but it was improved. In a mysterious situation called , the opposite can happen. dry nose syndromeA small number of patients who have surgery to improve airflow in their nose end up feeling completely stuffed up, possibly due to damage to cold receptors or other sensory changes. For patients, the lack of sensation of airflow can be very uncomfortable and make them feel like they are suffocating, even if their nose is not completely blocked.
To varying degrees, we are all unreliable storytellers about stuffy noses. When a patient is examined, the doctor may notice that one side of the patient’s nose is noticeably more swollen than the other, but this does not necessarily mean that one side of the patient’s nose is swollen. feel It’s even more crowded. “This continues to baffle clinicians,” Smith told me. Other factors such as temperature should also play a role. The internal workings of the nose are complex, and there are still many mysteries. The next time I wake up at night and lie down, feeling sick again and stuck in traffic again, I will think about all this.
