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You may think boogers are simply dried snot in your nasal area, but these crusty little nose diamonds, made of water, germs, dust and pollen that get trapped in your tiny nose hairs mixed with snot and mucus, are so much more. What you may not know are these wildly exciting facts about where they come from, where they’re going, how healthy the booger diet is and what we call people who have a serious booger-picking problem. Whatever lies ahead you didn’t know about boogers, we promise you, it snot good.
1. There’s no scientific word for the booger, but there is for nose picking.
It’s called rhinotillexomania. That’s “rhino,” referring to the nose and “mania,” referring to a great big good time. Should you be a recovering rhinotillexomaniac, good luck staying in a relationship if you fall off the wagon.
2. The average (healthy) nose produces more than 34 ounces of snot per day.
Yeah, that’s on a good day. It’s much more when you’re not well. And yes, to answer your question, that is more than a big gulp.
3. It’s not necessarily unhealthy to eat your own boogers.
It’s just disgusting as hell. Mucus that is produced and passes through the nose goes into the stomach where it’s broken down. So one way or another, it’s going to the same place. It may also aid in the immune system’s response to bacteria, should you start to get sick. However, mucus does contain harmful material so perhaps foregoing boogers altogether is even healthier, perhaps a little less horrifying to witness.
4. One out of four people pick their nose each day. One out of five pick five or more times per day.
Basically with every four people you see, one of them is a picker, but one out of every five is a little gold digger. A large percentage of adults eat their boogers, too. People say kids are the booger eaters of the world, but studying psychologists claim most people pick their nose at some point or another. Whether or not they’re knuckle deep, fetching, retrieving and piling them on a plate for brunch is hard to determine, but most adults will penetrate their nasal cavity at one point or another.
5. The booger barometer tells you what stage of sickness you’re in.
The standard code green booger arrives during a cold, usually as the body is starting to get past its sickness. We cannot speak for St. Patty’s Day boogers, though. Yellow or white boogers are typically the first couple days of a cold, and clear (and runny) boogers can be regarded as first line of defense against a bacterial attack.
6. Iguanas are the sneezers of the animal kingdom.
That’s how they rid their bodies of certain salt during the digestive process. Have you ever seen an iguana sneeze? There’s a funny punchline in there somewhere.
7. A sneeze has the potential to travel at 30 to 100 miles per hour.
And a sneeze can launch a booger, however minute, up to 30 feet in the air. This does not include the farmer blow, which is a voluntary man-made sneeze with incredibly catapulting capabilities.
8. A single sneeze can send more than 100,000 germs into the air.
So cover your face, dammit!
9. Some components of boogers are considered cleansing agents for medical devices, as opposed to just germ-ridden gems.
Mucin is known as one of the greatest germ repellers, destroying that layer of bacteria commonly found in hospitals and other germ-ridden places people go. It’s so much a repeller that researchers have thought about using it to coat their medical equipment. Can you imagine going to the doctor and seeing snot and boogers all over everything? That’s a booger miner’s heaven!
10. The main difference between broccoli and boogers for kids is that kids won’t eat their broccoli.
A little booger humor for the road. Happy picking!
Sources:
Boogie Wipes
io9
Bathroom Reader
