Tartalom:
The Nasal Cavity as a Heating Unit
The (epithelial) changes in the respiratory tract and their emotional triggers can be highly diverse due to the extensive functionality of the epithelial tissue in the nose and airways.
The nasal mucosa is involved in detecting odors and temperature, filtering the air needed for breathing, warming and humidifying it, and cleaning contaminants that enter the airways.
Due to its shape and the cilia-covered mucosa, the nasal cavity has an extremely large surface area, which warms, humidifies, and cleans the inhaled air in a fraction of a tenth of a second, preparing it for the lungs.
The Nasal Cavity as a Heating Unit
Thanks to its abundant blood supply and hollow structure, the nasal cavity easily warms inhaled air. The greater the difference between body temperature and the temperature of the inhaled air, the more the organ must enhance the efficiency of its “heating.”
It achieves this by narrowing the nasal openings, expanding the volume of the nasal cavity, and increasing blood flow to the nose.
This phenomenon can be observed, for example, in winter when we spend extended periods in cold air. The nose reddens—“switching to higher-performance heating”—and when we finally enter a warm space, it returns to “rest mode,” and we experience a runny nose.
This occurs due to the natural functioning of the epithelium: as long as the organ hasn’t achieved the state required for its function and the current demand, it responds with thinning (to widen the internal diameter). Once this is achieved and no longer needed, it regenerates with discharge.
Our body reacts to our emotions just as it does to physical sensations.
If, alongside (or instead of) the sensation of “cold air,” we harbor emotions of a similar shade—such as fear of or resistance to the cold—we’ll experience the same symptoms, but more intensely, proportional to the strength of the emotion.
This includes cases where we fear catching a cold due to cold air, such as from drafts, air conditioning, or the approach of winter and our aversion to cold weather.
As long as this fear or aversion is actively present, the epithelial layer of the nasal cavities will imperceptibly degenerate, working to prepare as effectively as possible for the expected conditions by creating a wider, “well-heated” nasal cavity. When this emotion ceases—when we get used to the conditions or are no longer exposed to the cold—the epithelium begins to regenerate with discharge, accompanied by inflammation (with or without viruses). This is what we call a cold or flu-like symptoms “caused by cold.”
The severity of symptoms during regeneration depends on how intensely and for how long we experienced the conflict.
The Nasal Cavity as an Air Filter
The nose can filter about 60% of the dust and bacteria in inhaled air. This is performed by the hairs at the nasal entrance and the cilia-covered epithelium of the nasal mucosa.
The filtered materials are swept by the cilia into the nasopharynx, where they are either expelled as phlegm through the mouth, passed into the stomach and digestive tract, or removed reflexively through sneezing and mucus secretion, exiting the same way they entered. As we’ve seen, there’s a faster and a slower route for this expulsion. The faster route is used when the intruder is particularly hostile or irritating.
For example, if we inhale ground pepper and its volatile compounds irritate the nasal mucosa, the body typically resolves the situation with sneezing and discharge. It does the same when someone (figuratively) “rubs us the wrong way” or if we find something or someone particularly hostile or irritating.
The changes in the mucosa are the same in both cases: during the presence of the sensation/emotion (active conflict phase), there’s an imperceptible epithelial degeneration, followed by regeneration with inflammatory, edematous recovery.
The Nose as a Sensory Organ
In the animal kingdom, the sense of smell plays a crucial role in hunting, escaping predators, selecting suitable food, and choosing mates. In humans, due to the pollution of urban lifestyles and the overload of stimuli, this sense has significantly dulled, but we still use it in roughly the same areas. Today, a “predator” might be a gas leak, “prey” could be the enticing vanilla scent wafting from the other side of a supermarket, and a potential partner is identified by their perfume’s fragrance.
Case Study - When Something Stinks…
I’m sharing the following story to illustrate how even seemingly minor aversions can cause changes—in this case, respiratory changes: flu-like, cold, or allergic symptoms. We don’t always need to look for massive conflicts behind a condition. Conditions are simply the result of our natural adaptive abilities.
It did. Although it dragged on longer than expected, it concluded satisfactorily for both parties.
There was just one small flaw: the man had unbelievably bad breath. I quickly concluded it was likely due to a glandular change in his oral cavity or esophagus shifting into the post-resolution phase, with tissue breakdown by fungi underway. But that was as far as I got, as I wasn’t in a position to do anything with this information. (Obviously, the man couldn’t help the odor, but it was still highly irritating.)
After a while, I did, and the “odor cloud” no longer bothered me—I essentially “forgot about it,” allowing me to focus on the meeting’s topic.
I wondered, “What’s going on now?” Then it hit me—the overpowering stench I’d been forced to endure and the aversion I felt at the start of the meeting.
