With the advent of autumn, your bodies might take some time to get used to the new season, resulting in this common autumn illness or even seasonal depression for some. While being sick during flu season is not fun for anyone, having a runny nose might be the worst part of it all for some of us.
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If having to constantly blow your nose and carry around tissues everywhere you go made you wonder, where all the never-ending snot in your nose actually comes from, this is what Healthline has to say about it all.
Not only is snot production a way for your body to respond to illness and allergies, but your snot can actually tell you a lot about your body's health.
Here's where the mucus in your nose comes from
Whenever you catch a cold or an allergy, it triggers your body to release histamine. It is a chemical that is released by your body as an immune response. The histamine in turn affects your nasal membrane by causing them to produce a lot of mucus aka snot.
Yes, the production of snot is very much a way for your body to protect itself. Having a cold makes your nose and sinuses more vulnerable to a bacterial infection, but with the production of mucus in the nose, it's difficult for bacteria to settle anywhere on or near your nose linings.
Again, the mucus also ensures that your nose is emptied of any existing bacteria or foreign material that might be bad for your body.
The same immune response by your body can be observed when you have an allergic reaction, or even when you eat spicy food. The temporary production of mucus ensures that the foreign matter is eliminated from your body.
Another scenario when your nose gets filled with mucus, is when you are crying. The reason for that is slightly different however. When you cry, tears actually drain away from your tear ducts underneath your eye lids, and pass onto your nasal cavity, which then mixes in with substances in your nose and comes out in the form of snot. So in essence, the runny nose you get while crying, are just your tears escaping from your nose!
What your snot can tell you about your health
Cleveland Clinic quotes Dr. Raj Sindhwani, who underlines the importance of nose mucus saying,
It traps particles and organisms, so the bacteria or debris that we breathe in doesn’t go directly into our lungs,
The colour of your snot can be a strong indicator of what's going on inside your body. As per their report, here is what the different colour of your snot could imply:
- Generally clear mucus indicates that you are in the clear, and everything is probably in the normal range.
- White mucus can mean you’re congested, and can be due to nasal infection or cold.
- A yellow tinge in your mucus indicates a cold or infection that’s progressing.
- Green mucus indicates that your immune system has been very busy fighting back, and your snot is full with dead white blood cells. It could indicate sinusitis.
- Pink or red mucus indicates that your nasal tissue are dry, damaged or somehow broken.
- Brown mucus could be the result of a serious fungal infection, or just mean that you have been inhaling something like smoke or debris.
Read more:
⋙ Plucking your nose hairs: Here's why you should not be doing it
⋙ Doctors were shocked to see what was really dripping from this man's nose
⋙ Scientists reveal the reason why some people have got big noses
Sources used:
Healthline: 'Why Do We Have Snot and Where Does It Come From?'
Cleveland Clinic: 'What the Color of Your Snot Really Means'
