<\/p>
We\u2019ve all watched distastefully as our toddlers\u2019 fingers creep towards their nose, dig around for a bogie, and whip it into their mouth. Of course, we would never do that ourselves. Not even when our cameras are turned off during a video conference. Never.<\/p>\n
The technical name for bogie-eating is mucophagy, and when it becomes a true, obsessional habit, it is known as rhinotillexomania. But is this behaviour safe? After all, bogies are made of bacteria, viruses and dirt that get trapped by the little hairs and mucus in your nose.<\/p>\n
Some argue that eating them might be good for us. The \u2018hygiene hypothesis\u2019 is a theory that early exposure to germs and certain infections can boost the development of the immune system. But all of this has been difficult to prove; as you might imagine, it\u2019s hard to recruit enough volunteers for a proper study on bogie dining.<\/p>\n
All in all, it\u2019s probably not a great idea. If your hands are carrying bacteria or viruses, the act of sticking them up your nose can lead to illness. And if you\u2019re the one that\u2019s carrying a bacteria or virus, you\u2019re more likely to spread it if you don\u2019t wash your hands afterwards.<\/p>\n
So next time you or your toddler are tempted to snack on your nose greens, try to reach for a tissue instead \u2013 it\u2019s probably not worth the risk.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don\u2019t forget to include your name and location)<\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Dr Nish Manek Published: Wednesday, 03 November 2021 at 12:00 am We\u2019ve all watched distastefully as our toddlers\u2019 fingers creep towards their nose, dig around for a bogie, and whip it into their mouth. Of course, we would never do that ourselves. Not even when our cameras are turned off during a video conference. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":208,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/i-absolutely-love-picking-my-nose-and-eating-bogies-but-will-this-make-me-ill.jpg",1200,536,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/i-absolutely-love-picking-my-nose-and-eating-bogies-but-will-this-make-me-ill-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/i-absolutely-love-picking-my-nose-and-eating-bogies-but-will-this-make-me-ill-300x134.jpg",300,134,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/i-absolutely-love-picking-my-nose-and-eating-bogies-but-will-this-make-me-ill-768x343.jpg",768,343,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/i-absolutely-love-picking-my-nose-and-eating-bogies-but-will-this-make-me-ill-1024x457.jpg",800,357,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/i-absolutely-love-picking-my-nose-and-eating-bogies-but-will-this-make-me-ill.jpg",1200,536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/i-absolutely-love-picking-my-nose-and-eating-bogies-but-will-this-make-me-ill.jpg",1200,536,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Dr Nish Manek Published: Wednesday, 03 November 2021 at 12:00 am We\u2019ve all watched distastefully as our toddlers\u2019 fingers creep towards their nose, dig around for a bogie, and whip it into their mouth. Of course, we would never do that ourselves. Not even when our cameras are turned off during a video conference.…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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