How to (and How Not to) Sneeze and Blow Your Nose

Sniffling, sneezing, coughing and blowing your nose probably seem like second nature to you -- and you likely don't put much thought into any of these "natural" occurrences. But maybe you should.

It is easily inherent to injure yourself from coughing and sneezing in an improper way, and how you blow your nose may work on the duration of your illness.

When Sneezing and Coughing Turn Dangerous

Back injuries are one of the most coarse "side effects" of sneezing and coughing. Baseball player Sammy Sosa knows this first-hand. Back in 2004 when he played for the Chicago Cubs, two sneezes sent his back into spasms, causing him to need a chAir to reserve himself. The injury -- a sprained ligaMent in his lower back-- caused him to miss part of the season.

A vigorous coughing or sneezing strike can leave you with upper or lower back pain (or spasms) because of their forceful nature, not only on your whole torso but also on your abdoMen. This pressure is so intense that it can easily herniate a weakened spinal disc.

How to "A-Choo" Safely

Right before you sense a cough or sneeze arrival on, take a few seconds to position your back correctly. Doing so will protect your back and help keep any existing pain to a minimum.

• Lean back slightly, placing a hand behind your back for support.
• When you sneeze or cough, bend your knees slightly.
• You can also (instead of above) stand up level against a wall or door to keep your back from lurching transmit when you sneeze or cough.

Blowing Your Nose: Good or Bad?

Commonsense would tell us that blowing our noses while a cold would help take off some of the illness-causing bacteria or viruses contained in the mucus, thereby helping us to feel great Faster. But it turns out this may not be enTirely true.

According to Dr. Owen Hendley and a team of researchers from the University of Virginia and the University of Aarhus in Denmark, blowing your nose may easily cause mucus to be propelled back into the sinus cavities.

Not surprisingly, blowing your nose creates a huge number of pressure in the nose -- over seven times more pressure than is produced by sneezing or coughing.

The researchers placed an opaque dye into the rear nasal cavities of 10 study particiPants in order to determine whether the fluid would enter the sinus cavities. Three of the volunteers were asked to cough, three were induced to sneeze and four blew their nose. After measuring the fluid's movement with a Ct scan, Hendley said:

"In the those who coughed or sneezed, there was no dye in any of the sinuses. And in all four of those who did the nose-blowing, there was dye in one or more of the sinuses ... With a nose blow, given the number of pressure and how long it went on, you could move one milliliter of nasal mucus into the sinuses."

The question with this, Hendley pointed out, is that "if you do weighty mucus into your sinuses while a cold -- which I'm suspecting you would -- then not only is it mucus but it's mucus that's likely to comprise bacteria, virus and may also comprise mediators."

"It appears that it's quite likely that if you do blow your nose, then there's a inherent you could be worsening your cold," he said.

How to Correctly Blow Your Nose

Sometimes, though, the relief that comes from blowing your nose may be enough for you to risk a potentially longer cold duration. When you do blow your nose, there is a proper technique that can both minimize the risk of mucus traveling back up your sinuses and cut your risk of injury.

When you think that adults blow their noses an average of 45 times a day while the first three days of a cold, proper technique could make all the difference.

• Blow your nose gently. Blowing too hard creates even more pressure that can force infectious mucus into your ears and sinuses.
• Avoid the "both-nostrils-open" blow. Instead ...
• Press a finger over one nostril.
• Gently blow your nose into a paper tissue through the one open nostril.
• Switch your finger to close the opposite nostril, and repeat.
• Although you will feel most "stuffed-up" when you first wake up (after lying flat all night), don't blow your nose immediately. It's best to wait five or 10 minutes after you've been sitting upright before doing so.
• Drink fullness of fluids. This will make it easier for mucus to be removed by blowing gently. Blowing your nose after taking a steamy shower can also help.
• Use paper tissues rather than Cloth handkerchiefs. A used handkerchief is a breeding ground for germs -- and when you reuse it you're spreading those germs colse to your face and hands.
• Only use a paper tissue once, then throw it away. This minimizes the risk of putting germs back onto your face and hands.
• Wash your hands when you're finished, as germs from your nose and tissue will be transferred to your fingers while you blow.

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Handkerchief Art

This task was born from a personal need to get my grandmother's handkerchiefs out of the boxes and baggies she had stored them in and out in the open where they could be appreciated. All you need is a moMent or two to see how beautiful these lightweight fabric squares were. In fact so beautiful, I can't as a matter of fact dream using them for what they were intended. Maybe most of them were there for emergency brow dabbing and neck patting on those sweltering August afternoons. That's how I'm going to think about them!

Anyway, I've come up with a merge ways to showcase these beauties and you can read on here and see how all the projects are done.

Handkerchiefs Under Glass

Most of grandma's handkerchiefs portion about 11" x 11". Some are larger and many are smaller, but that's about the average. In that case, a 12"x 12" frame works beautifully for them. I found just that at my local JoAnn etc. Store. They are a very thin, black plastic frame with a clear plastic front so quite lightweight. They bend to take off the clear plastic so you can insert your object, in this case the handkerchief, and then you reinsert the plastic front. Pretty cool. Goes together in a flash and as a matter of fact shows off the lace handkerchiefs because of the black background.
Handkerchief Potpourri

There are so many of these pretties that I couldn't Maybe display them all, so some of them I made into sachets for potpourri. This too is straightforward to accomplish. I first chose the handkerchief for its color, and then I bought 1/8th of a yard of colored netting to use to hold the potpourri.

It's a straightforward process of laying down the handkerchief with the right side towards the table. Add a double layer of coordinating netting and add a scoop of sweet smelling potpourri in the center. Acquire up the edges of the handkerchief and hold everything in place with a pretty ribbon. Matt wanted to embellish the ribbon with a pretty silver heart charm so we bought a bag of 6 and Dressed up the sachets even more. These would be a very nice Valentine's Day or Mother's Day gift or keep it in mind for Sweetest Day!

Handkerchief Table Runner

For this task you'll need complicated handkerchiefs that blend well together. Again, I had so many of them from my grandmother that I could divide them into color groupings. I found just what I wanted in the yellow group to put together a pretty table runner.

And, as quick as the other two projects were, this one takes some time because there is a lot of ironing and hand sewing taking place. Don't get me wrong, I complete it in a merge hours, but it's not a quick coffee break craft!

Materials List:
5-7 handkerchiefs
Fusible Interfacing
Iron and ironing board
Needle and Thread
Pins
Scissors

Instructions:

1 Begin by laying each handkerchief on the fusible interfacing and cut a piece of interfacing just slightly larger than the handkerchief.

2 Move to the ironing board and iron each handkerchief to take off as many creases as possible, then place the wrong side of the handkerchief on the shiny side of the interfacing and with a hot but dry iron, fuse the interfacing to the handkerchief. Place the iron as close to edges as possible, but don't worry about developMent sure it is fused at the edges. You can come back later and go over the edge once you cut off the excess interfacing.

3 Cut off the excess interfacing right along the edge of the handkerchief. Be very faithful not to cut through the sewn edge of the handkerchief. If you want to fuse the edges better, go back to the ironing board and hit the edges since you don't have to worry about melting the interfacing onto your iron.

4 Now you need to spend some time arranging your handkerchiefs. Notice I tried to cover some of the intense yellow and let some of it show to keep it as even as inherent along the runner. I also used white embroidered handkerchiefs at both ends. The ones in the middle were a bit larger in size as well so the runner tapered a bit at the ends. Just things to think about!

5 Pin the handkerchiefs together where they overlap. I worked two at a time and then put the pAirs together.

6 When stitching the handkerchiefs together you are basically appliquéing them to each other. On the top I used the formula of coming up from the bottom, through the bottom and top handkerchiefs, and wrapping the thread over the hemmed edge and punching back down through the bottom fabric very close to the thread coming up. Then I moved over about ¼" and punched up from the bottom again into both the bottom and top fabrics and continued in the same fashion all the way colse to the edge that was overlapping.

7 On the back, simply tack the bottom fabric to the top in three or four places. Try not to go through the handkerchief and just catch the interfacing if you can.

handkerchief quilt pattern

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