Fed up of your runny nose? Here's why you get one when it's cold

It’s one of the unfortunate by-products of the wintry weather we’ve been experiencing over the past few days and something we all suffer from.

But why do we get a runny nose?

David King, senior lecturer at The University of Queensland, has shed a bit of light on the affliction, which apparently affects about 50-90% of people.

Writing on CNN’s The Conversation, Mr King explained how the nose works to make the air we breathe warm and wet so it does not irritate cells in the lungs.

When you inhale through your nose when it’s freezing outside, your nose is the thing that heats the cold, dry air to the 26°C (78.8˚F) to 30°C (86˚F) that it needs to be, as well as 100% humidity, at the back of the nose, says Mr King.

Cold, dry air stimulates the nerves inside your nose, which send a message through your nerves to your brain,” he writes. “Your brain then responds to this impulse by increasing the blood flow to the nose, and these dilated blood vessels warm the air passing over them.”

As well as this, the nose produces more secretions via its mucous glands to humidify the air coming through, while the cold, dry air also stimulates cells of your immune system, known as ‘mast cells’ in your nose to trigger the production of more liquid.

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But it’s a difficult balancing act, he explains, as the body tries to achieve the correct amount of heat and moisture lost from the nose.

“When the compensatory mechanism is a little too overactive, moisture in excess of that needed to humidify this cold, dry air will drip from the nostrils,” he adds.

For those with asthma or allergies, mast cells are usually more sensitive, while blood vessel changes are also more reactive in those sensitive to environmental irritants and temperature changes, making them more susceptible to runny noses, he explain.

So what’s the best treatment?

According to Mr King, despite some nasal sprays that reduce inflammation and block nerve impulses working for some, the best treatment is a good old-fashioned tissue or handkerchief.