Don't blow your nose

Taken from : Men'sHealth

Thank goodness cold and flu season is almost over.

But if you caught a cold this winter and quarantined yourself in your office—or bed—with a box of tissues, you might have done your sinuses a disservice.

According to a recent story in the New York Times, blowing your nose when you have a cold can cause more harm than good.

Is this really true?

Yes and no, explains J. Owen Hendley, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia. Hendley coauthored a study a few years ago that found nose-blowing generates very high pressure in the nasal cavity—more pressure than coughing and sneezing—because closing off the front of your nose (hopefully with a tissue) causes the mucus to exit through a thin opening. And not all of it goes out through the nostrils.

It's unclear whether blowing mucus into your sinus was harmful, but during sickness it could shoot viruses or bacteria in there and possibly cause further infection, Hendley says.

If you already have a cold, stop the drip by doing the opposite of what your momma told you: Don’t blow. But if you absolutely must, some experts say, do it one nostril at a time and take a decongestant.