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Nasal obstruction and nose care A number of research and clinical studies have pointed to the need for unobstructed, well-functioning nostrils. The work of Dr I. N. Rega, an ear, nose and throat specialist of Bucharest, Romania, deserves comment. In a study of nearly 200 patients suffering from one-sided nasal obstruction, due to distortions and malformations of the median nasal septum present since birth, Dr Rega found that those patients whose breath flowed predominantly via the left nostril suffered a higher than average incidence of a wide variety of respiratory disorders, including chronic mucopurulent sinusitis, middle and inner ear infections, partial or total loss of the sense of smell, hearing and taste, recurrent pharyngitis, laryngitis and tonsillitis, chronic bronchitis and bronchiectasis.
He also found that people with this syndrome were more likely to suffer from a wide variety of more distant disorders, including amnesia, intellectual weakness, headaches, hyperthyroidism (with associated irritability), cardiopulmonary weakness (including palpitations, asthma-like attacks and chronic heart failure), liver and gallbladder problems (varied symptoms), persistently altered cellular constituents of the blood and lymphatic fluid, chronic gastritis and colitis (with symptoms of heartburn, gastric reflux, peptic ulcer and constipation), and sexual and reproductive disorders (symptoms of diminution of libido, menstrual irregularities and diminished virility).
In contrast, patients whose breath flowed predominantly through the right nostril, were found to be predisposed to arterial hypertension and its numerous consequences.
While this study is suggestive rather than conclusive, and is open to criticism in several areas, it largely agrees with the experimental observations of a large number of doctors and physicians, who as early as 1819, were drawing attention to the state of general physical and mental health in relation to the clarity of the nasal passages and their sensitive lining of mucous membrane.
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