You Might Be Blowing Your Nose Too Hard

You Might Be Blowing Your Nose Too Hard

One of the worst parts of a cold is the incessant nose blowing. After a while, you might even start angrily blowing your nose as hard as you can to get all that mucus out of your system. An article by The Wall Street Journal points out this is actually a terrible idea.

Picture: Anna Gutermuth/Flickr

When you have a cold, priority number one is feeling better. If you have a stuffed-up nose, that usually means getting all that mucus out. Don’t blow too hard though, because that can cause problems:

There isn’t a simple answer to the question, “how hard is too hard?” However, Dr. Schachter says, if you don’t feel any pressure in your sinuses before you blow and then feel it afterward, you have blown too hard. And beware of a crackling sound in your ears. “That’s excess mucus being blown back into the middle ear,” he says.

If you’re all clogged up and need some help, don’t use pressure. Instead, go for saline spray or mist to loosen up the mucus, then blow.

What’s the Best Way to Blow Your Nose? [The Wall Street Journal]


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