Important Question: Answered

Coming back from grabbing a delicious dinner from "South Side" (south campus cafe) I noticed two things:

1. It was extremely cold

2. My nose was running (gross, I know)

So then I got to thinking....why is it that when it's cold outside does your nose seem to run excessively?

Well, for those of you out there dying to know the answer, I was able to find it on kidshealth.org (I figured I would get a pretty simple and straightforward answer on a website for kids)

Here's what they said...

Baby, it's cold outside- When you're outside on a cold day, your nose tries its best to warm up the cold air you breathe before sending it to the lungs.  Tiny blood vessels inside your nostrils open wider (dilate), helping to warm up that air.  But that extra blood flow leads to more mucus production.  You know what happens next. Drip, drip, drip.

I hope that you can now sleep well, knowing you have the answer to one of life's more important questions. :)