You become “quasi a human firecracker”: Is it unhealthy to sneeze inwards?
ENT doctors agree
Created: 04/11/2022 15:54
By: Juliane Gutmann
A sneeze can reach speeds of up to 160 km/h.
That's hurricane speed.
So better not sneeze inwards – right?
One of the most unsatisfying experiences in everyday life: It tickles your nose, you are in joyful expectation that a sneeze will soon leave your mouth and nose.
But then it happens: suddenly the tickling is gone and so is the urge to sneeze.
“As a rule, everyday foreign objects that penetrate the inside of the nose and irritate the sensitive nerves of the mucous membranes force us to sneeze.
The process in our airways is a purely natural protective reflex to get rid of unwanted irritants and nasal secretions like a hurricane
,” explains Dr.
Utta Petzold, dermatologist at Barmer Krankenkasse.
Whether loud as a thunderclap or almost silently inside: How someone sneezes varies greatly from person to person.
Where some “loud sneezers” justify themselves with slogans like “Everything has to go that doesn’t pay rent”, some “sneeze inside” see themselves as role models in times of a pandemic.
Because where breathing air escapes inwards instead of outwards, no germs and viruses* can get into the environment.
But can that be healthy?
Poll on the topic: How do you sneeze?
Sneezing into the crook of your arm prevents droplets from the respiratory tract from spreading to the surrounding area.
© Imago
Germs, viruses and foreign bodies are transported outside by sneezing
It is not always pathogens that trigger the sneeze reflex.
Foreign bodies such as dust grains or other smallest particles that get into the nose also make us sneeze.
“When you sneeze, viruses or intruders are chased out of the nose and thus out of the body with hurricane force – sometimes at speeds of up to 160 km/h.
If we suppress the reflex, we also leave the germs in the body", according to information on the website of the Essen ENT private practice of Dr.
Joerg Lutz.
The pressure could allow pathogens to get into the paranasal sinuses and through the ear canals into the middle ear, where blockages and inflammation can result.
it goes on.
“So suppressing a sneeze is completely the wrong approach.
If you still want to keep the noise within limits, you can simply sneeze into a handkerchief or into your clothing from the crook of your arm," is the recommendation of ENT doctor Jörg Lutz.
Other experts in the field are also in favor of free sneezing: "One should not suppress a sneeze because it is a physiological reaction of the body that is trying to expel an irritant," quotes the Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk Dr.
Veit Zebralla, ENT doctor at the Leipzig University Hospital.
What also speaks against the inward sneeze: It does not always want to succeed.
The enormous pressure that arises in the nasopharynx usually causes the sneeze to make its way outside.
"The sight of a person who wants to sneeze failing an inward sneeze is a bit like seeing
a person blow all their fuses in one fell swoop
.
He becomes a human firecracker, so to speak,” is the conclusion of an editorial network Germany contribution.
(jg) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA