Picking your nose - Good for your health?
Why is it that when people are driving they think that other
drivers can't see them through the clear glass windows of
their car?
On numerous occasions I have been happily driving along in
my home town of Burton on Trent, Staffordshire, UK when I've
seen another driver picking his (or her) nose, oblivious to
the fact that every other driver is watching them do it?
To an extent I can understand someone thinking they can't be
seen when they're driving along at 50mph but when they're
sat at traffic lights it's another matter entirely!
I've just been sat at the lights at the Burton end of the
Trent Bridge and some chap in a red Volvo was sat behind me
merrily picking away. I thought he was going to lose his
hand at one point. He only stopped when I turned round and
gave him a thumbs up sign and in fact he looked quite
shocked that somehow I'd been able to see him through his
Harry Potter invisibility cloak (ie car windscreen).
You may ask why I gave him a thumbs up sign when what he was
doing was in fact quite gross? Well, it's because recent
research shows that picking your nose is good for you ......
and eating it is even better!!!!
Yes, I know it's hard to swallow (sorry :-) ) but apparently
it's true. Here's a news story I saw recently:
Top doc backs picking your nose and eating it
Picking your nose and eating it is one of the best ways to
stay healthy, according to a top Austrian doctor.
Innsbruck-based lung specialist Prof Dr Friedrich Bischinger
said people who pick their noses with their fingers were
healthy, happier and probably better in tune with their
bodies.
He says society should adopt a new approach to nose-picking
and encourage children to take it up.
Dr Bischinger said: "With the finger you can get to places
you just can't reach with a handkerchief, keeping your nose
far cleaner.
"And eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great
way of strengthening the body's immune system.
"Medically it makes great sense and is a perfectly natural
thing to do. In terms of the immune system the nose is a
filter in which a great deal of bacteria are collected, and
when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just
like a medicine.
"Modern medicine is constantly trying to do the same thing
through far more complicated methods, people who pick their
nose and eat it get a natural boost to their immune system
for free."
He pointed out that children happily pick their noses, yet
by the time they have become adults they have stopped under
pressure from a society that has branded it disgusting and
anti social.
He said: "I would recommend a new approach where children
are encouraged to pick their nose. It is a completely
natural response and medically a good idea as well."
And he pointed out that if anyone was really worried about
what their neighbour was thinking, they could still enjoy
picking their nose in private if they still wanted to get
the benefits it offered.
So perhaps next time you see a driver picking their nose you
should give them a thumbs up too because we now know they're
just trying to improve their own health. Perhaps we should
all pick our noses as we drive along. Perhaps Burton's
Queens Hospital will be a quieter place because we'll all be
much healthier (yes I know I could go into the dangers of
having one hand up your nose and not on the steering wheel
but I'm just not going there!). Perhaps this will catch on
and as we drive along picking our noses we'll try to spot
the odd person who is NOT picking too. Perhaps there'll be a
Burton on Trent Picking Club. Perhaps pickers will get
cheaper health insurance ........
and then again .......perhaps not (or should that be
perhap snot)!!!!!!!!
Chris Towland
About the Author
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