In fact, picking out ears is not a good habit in what, because the ear canal has a self-cleaning function. Most people’s earwax can be discharged by themselves, which is really blocked. It is estimated that you cannot solve it at home and have to go to the hospital.
Well, the principle of health is over, what awaits you is a [but]!
But! It’s really cool to pick out ears!
However, some people will find that when they dig out their ears, they will unconsciously itch their throats and cough.
It’s really strange. Clearly, you are picking out your ears. How can your throat feel uncomfortable and cough?
This phenomenon is not because the seven orifices are connected. In medicine, we call it [ear-cough reflex]. It is not a disease. However, because only a small number of people have this kind of physiological reaction, it will make these small groups feel curious. If you don’t believe it, go online and have a look. Many people search for what is going on.
Next, let’s start with coughing.
How does the cough come about?
Cough is a reflex arc reaction.
Middle school biology has learned that many simple movements of vertebrates are dominated by reflex arcs. The so-called reflex arc is: receiving stimulation signals, transmitting them to the center and outputting action signals.
The reflex arc of cough is like this:
- The throat and respiratory tract are stimulated by some kind of stimulation (such as itching caused by sputum hanging from the mouth), which generates [sensory signals] and passes through the vagus nerve to the medulla oblongata. After receiving this, the medulla oblongata sends out [motor signals] again, and goes down the same vagus nerve to the muscles of the throat, thus causing cough.
Cough is a protective nerve reflex of the throat. It is usually only when the throat is stimulated that the cough occurs.
How can the throat matter get to the ear?
That is to blame the enigmatic [vagus nerve], because the cough reflex nerve is wrapped in the vagus nerve.
The vagus nerve is a large bundle of cranial nerves, From the medulla oblongata at the bottom of the brain, it runs down the neck. Some branches will go out to perform various enigmatic and strange tasks, which may involve the muscles, heart, respiratory tract and gastrointestinal tract functions in charge of the throat, including an important area in charge of the ear: the external auditory canal.
The external auditory canal is the area that is mainly touched when picking out the ear.
The tactile sensation of the skin of the external auditory canal, like the sensation of mucosa on the surface of throat and respiratory tract, is transmitted to medulla oblongata through vagus nerve, but the nerve types dominated by the two are different.
These two types of nerves run side by side in the vagus nerve all the way to the medulla oblongata, but each takes its own special lane and does not interfere with each other. Therefore, most people cough as coughing, ear itching as ear itching, and there is no influence on each other.
Although everyone’s nerves () look the same, the nerve reflex () is functional, and the difference may be a little big. Therefore, a small number of people have [string] problems in vagus nerve or medulla oblongata when their nerves transmit signals…
Simply put, it is such a situation:
In the vagus nerve, the nerve responsible for throat stimulation and the nerve responsible for external auditory canal stimulation are linked together during signal transmission. At this time, once the skin of the external auditory canal is stimulated, such as being touched when pulling out the ear, the mucous membrane on the surface of the throat will feel the same stimulation and the throat will feel itchy.
As a result, some people began to cough as they pulled out their ears.
Research data show that about 1.72% ~ 4.2% of the people in the world have [ear-cough reflex]. Among them, 1/3 of the people only have this reflex on one side, while 2/3 have this reflex on both sides.
There is not only [ear-cough reflex], but also [light-sneezing reflex]
There was once an interesting story about [ear-cough reflex]:
There was a man who had been coughing all the time, However, what did all the examinations but found no problems. Finally, experienced doctors found that this person had a large old earwax in his ear, because earwax had been stimulating the external auditory canal and continuously causing [ear-cough reflex]. After the doctor managed to solve the earwax, this person never had any persistent cough again.
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? There are more magical ones below.
Nerve signal strings not only cause [ear-cough reflex], but also cause [light-sneeze reflex].
As early as in ancient Greece, Aristotle, a famous philosopher, discovered that he could not help sneezing when facing the sun. Aristotle thought about this and came to the conclusion that the heat of the sun caused sweat in his nasal cavity, and sneezing was to remove moisture.
This explanation now seems particularly naive. Later, the British philosopher Francis Bacon also discovered this situation, but his observation was more careful: facing the sun, one will not sneeze as long as one closes one’s eyes.
So he also guessed the most important part of the correct answer: sneezing sometimes has something to do with eyes. Only this time the problem is [trigeminal nerve].
Much more people have a light-sneeze reflex than an ear-cough reflex. About 18% to 35% of people have this reflex, which is related to the intensity of light received by the eyes, so it is usually induced only by facing the sun or strong lights.
Some studies believe that this reflex is acquired, because people with this reflex are often accompanied by nasal septum deviation. Some studies have also found that this reflex is determined by a specific gene.
But in short, both [ear-cough reflex] and [light-sneezing reflex] are normal phenomena, not diseases.
How can we completely solve the embarrassing state of coughing as soon as we pick out our ears? The best way is not to pay!