The combination finger + nose almost automatically leads to nose picking in primates such as humans, monkeys and prosimians. Removing nasal mucus with a finger is considered taboo and indecent among people, at least among people. But is it also inadvisable? Opinions are divided on this.
First some facts. Almost everyone picks up in his nose. Yes, so do you, because the chance that you belong to the more than 90 percent who pick their nose now and then, is quite high. Half of all Dutch people even do it once or several times a day and about 10 percent of them eat what they find in their nose.
Men touch their olfactory organs more often than women. The favorite place to do this is cozy at home on the couch, followed by the car (men) and the toilet (women). By the way, under Jewish law, nose picking on the rest day Sabbath has long been prohibited because hairs can come out during picking and pulling hair out on the Sabbath is prohibited.
Staphylococcus aureus
So much for all the (unsavory) this and that. Seriously now, because nose picking can be quite harmful to health. One in three Dutch people have the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium in the nasal cavity, which in turn is responsible for the MRSA-hospital infections. With a reduced resistance, this bacterium can cause infections of the skin. In addition, frequent nose picking can damage the nose and, in particular, its many capillaries. That in turn lead to a nose bleeding.
Damage Post
According to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), nose picking also causes damage to the Dutch economy of 25 million euros per year. Why? This is because the time that people are busy – men work an average of eleven minutes every day, women four – is not worked. And besides: only half of the nose pickers hide their loot in a handkerchief. Ten percent eat it, but then there is still forty percent left behind and leave the won material behind on worktops, chair backs or whatever else is available (estimated weight: eleven (!) tons). That means extra cleaning costs. And then the increased absenteeism due to the spread of infections has not even been investigated.
biological habit
Is there nothing positive to report about nose picking? Certainly. There are scientists who claim that nose picking is a biological habit with a logical purpose. Namely: getting rid of dried-on mucus leftovers that can irritate if you leave them on and don’t always go away by blowing. Eating those leftovers also helps the immune system to reinforce.
Cause sequel
Nose picking is also seen as a logical cause-follow-up story. Nose picking is the consequence of the fact that we have a large nose in which mucus residues dry up. And because we like to scratch and pick at scabs, skins, calluses, hooks on nails and other things that come loose from our body, we also drill a finger in our nose – men by the way on average 1.1 centimeters deep, women 0.6 cm . Clearing it up and using a finger to clean your nostrils so you can breathe as freely as possible is a very natural response.
Good or bad?
Coming back to the question of whether nose picking is good or bad, the answer must be “both.” Occasional picking is not abnormal if something is itchy or in the way. But preferably use a handkerchief to prevent inflammation, nosebleeds and the spread of infections.
As for nosebleeds, after the index finger, little finger and thumb, a pen or pencil is the most commonly used item for toddlers. This causes bleeding very quickly. And about the spread of infections: ten percent of the ATMs in the Netherlands are infected with the aforementioned Staphylococcus aureus bacterium.
