​Five fun facts about the nose

You see it every time you look in the mirror, and you know you smell with it and breathe through it. But there are so many more interesting things to know about the nose. Here are just five of them.

Five Fun Facts About the Nose

Nose Fact 1: Your nose and your voice

While the larynx is where your voice is produced, resonance in our nose (and throat) is why our voices sound the way they do. That is why our voices sound odd when we are congested.

Nose Fact 2: Temperature regulation

Our lungs don’t like air that is too hot or too cold, so before it reaches them it passes through our noses, which brings the outside air to a temperature more in line with the rest of our bodies. That's also why we get runny noses in cold temperatures. The cold air causes condensation of the moisture in our nostrils, which then runs and drips.

Nose Fact 3: Infant inhaling and exhaling

While we breathe through both our noses and mouths, the nose has more of the responsibility, especially in babies. Newborns breathe almost entirely through their noses so that they can breathe and nurse at the same time.

Nose Fact 4: The color of health

You can tell how healthy someone is by the color of their nasal membrane. Pink nasal membranes are healthy, red ones are a sign of infection, and people with pink or gray ones are suffering from allergies.

Nose Fact 5: Cilia and the time of death

Cilia are the tiny hairs that filter the air you breathe through your nose. But they don’t stop moving for almost a full day – 20 hours – after you die. This can help some pathologists determine the time of someone’s death.

Nasal care at CEENTA

The nose is a complex and wonderful part of the body, and our ENT physicians want to keep it as healthy as possible. If you’re sick or your nose is injured, come to CEENTA and our doctors will have you as healthy as possible before long.

This blog is for informational purposes only. For specific medical questions, please consult your doctor. New patients can make appointment online with any of our ENT doctors in North and South Carolina. Current patients can also make appointments through myCEENTAchart with physicians they have already seen.