Monday, December 19, 2011

Pass the tissues?

Remember: during this cold and flu season, don’t blow your nose.

When people sneeze or cough, only trivial amounts of nasal fluid flows into the paranasal sinuses. 

A study (in Clinical Infectious Diseases), using an opaque dye and CT scans showed that blowing your nose significantly reverses the flow of nasal mucous back into the sinuses.

Nose blowing is felt to increase the chance of paranasal sinusitis complicating a common cold.

Just think of every time your Mother handed you a tissue to blow your nose over the years…if she had only known!

If you are going to blow your nose the preferred method (believe it or not) is to blow one nostril at a time.

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