One of the most entrenched customs of children (and some adults - which I swear I have seen) is to rummage through the nose in search of mucus to extract and eat them.
This act has always been associated with a negative connotation in the form of disgust and that is why when we see someone do it to many, our stomach is stirred and we also try to educate our children so that they do not.
However, there are many children who carry out this action and the most curious thing is that they do it for themselves, without anyone having taught them to do it. This could suggest that, since it was not learned behavior, it could be something natural and even good for our body.
This hypothesis is confirmed in the mouth of Friedrich Bischinger, a famous Austrian pneumologist, who has stated that getting rid of boogers is a recommendable act and eating them is even better.
Keeping noses clean
Removing the mucus with your fingers is healthy because with your finger we get there where a handkerchief does not arrive and because in this way we can eliminate those secretions that have been stuck on the walls, by being drier, leaving the nostrils clean.
For this reason, Dr. Bischinger encourages parents not to censor the act of removing mucus in children, but to treat it naturally and even be urged to do so.
Mucus boosts the immune system
The nose works as a filter where bacteria are concentrated, preventing them from entering our lungs. In this way, the mucus becomes authentic vehicles of bacteria that, once ingested, work as a vaccine.
In the pneumologist's words:
Eating the mode is common sense and very natural in humans because it is a good way to strengthen the immune system.
Bischinger also compares this practice with vaccines in modern medicine, which try to do the same but in a more complicated and expensive way, since eating the mucus is something natural and free.
Let's change the mindset
As I said before, children take their boogers out and eat them instinctively. There are even those who stress how curious it is that the shape of the holes is round and about the exact size of the fingertips, as if they fit as a key and lock.
However, social pressure causes little by little (some) to stop. This makes The custom is lost and the benefits are lost.
Citing again the pneumologist's words:
I only ask that it be seen in another way, that children are encouraged to put their fingers in their noses because it is natural and, from a medical point of view, it is a wonderful idea.
The truth is that I find it very difficult to change this vision about snot and even more when something is removed from the inside when watching someone eat them.
For my part I will not make my children put their finger, nor will I tell them not to do so or stop eating them, but I will suggest that they try to do it in privacy, because although it can be very healthy, it surely damages the image one's.
