I can't spit out the phlegm in my throat. Can I swallow it?

I believe many people have this experience. When they have a cold or a runny nose, they simply suck it back into the nasal cavity because there is no toilet paper or handkerchief at hand.

There are also some people who have sputum because of tracheal inflammation or lung discomfort. It is also because they don't have toilet paper and can't vomit in public places, so they have to resist swallowing this sputum into their stomachs. The snot and phlegm that should have been ruled out were taken back by myself. This kind of behavior is unhealthy, will it make people sick?

To answer this question, let's first talk about how nose and phlegm are formed and what their ingredients are.

Snuff refers to mucus in nasal cavity, which is secreted by goblet cells of nasal mucosa. The secretion of nasal mucus is continuous, and its function is to protect the respiratory tract. However, if nasal secretions (nasal mucus) increase due to colds and other reasons, it will affect the smooth breathing.

The main components of nasal mucus include water, inorganic salts, a small amount of sugar, fat, protein, a small amount of exfoliated mucosal cells, adsorbed dust and chemicals in the air. When sick, a large number of bacteria will parasitize it, which is why the nose appears yellow or green and becomes thicker.

Yellow sputum has bacterial infection, and red or black sputum has blood.

As for sputum, it is the secretion produced by respiratory mucosa below the nasal cavity, such as lungs and bronchi, which is used to discharge foreign bodies such as dust, viruses and allergens. The normal color of sputum should be transparent or white.

If the sputum is yellow, there are signs of bacterial infection. If it is green or brown, it is almost certain that it is inflammation of the lungs or trachea. If the sputum is red or black, it means that there is blood in the sputum, which may be a sign of tuberculosis or other serious diseases.

Is it good for your health to suck back your nose or swallow phlegm?

Next, is it harmful to human health to suck back your nose or swallow phlegm?

In fact, the nasal cavity of the human body is connected with the esophagus, so under normal circumstances, nasal mucus will be swallowed unconsciously.

If you encounter nasal water that is too thick or diluted or runny nose caused by factors such as a cold, if you choose to swallow it instead of blowing your nose, you don't have to worry too much about the result.

Because most of the snot we suck back will enter the stomach through the esophagus, and the gastric juice with pH 2 has the weak effect of strong acid, which can almost eliminate all viruses and bacteria in the snot, so when we suck back the snot, there will be no abnormality.

As for coughing, it is actually a self-protection mechanism of the human body. Through strong expiratory reflex, the secretions and foreign bodies in the respiratory tract, that is, sputum, are removed to keep the respiratory tract unblocked and clean the lungs. And if you don't spit out the sputum, but choose to swallow it, this is also a way to expel the sputum from the lungs.

Expectoration is an important mechanism for clearing lung. People who exercise regularly and have good lung capacity are more likely to cough up phlegm, while people who stay in bed for a long time and are weak are often prone to lung infection because they can't cough up phlegm.

Some people say that there are a lot of bacteria and viruses in sputum, which will be harmful to health if swallowed. In fact, this is also a wrong idea, because don't forget that strong acidic gastric juice will kill most bacteria.

However, the harsh environment of mycobacterium tuberculosis is particularly strong, and a small amount of surviving mycobacterium tuberculosis will eventually enter the intestine, eventually forming intestinal tuberculosis, leading to long-term low fever, emaciation, night sweats, recurrent diarrhea and other symptoms.

Therefore, it is not recommended to let everyone hand over the bacteria in the nose or sputum to the stomach acid to solve it, but for the elderly or patients who are particularly difficult to cough up sputum, it is best not to cough hard and cause throat damage.