Picking your nose - Good for your health?
Why is it that when people are driving they think that other drivers can't see them through the clear glass windows of their car?
On numerous occasions I have been happily driving along in my home town of Burton on Trent, Staffordshire, UK when I've seen another driver picking his (or her) nose, oblivious to the fact that every other driver is watching them do it?
To an extent I can understand someone thinking they can't be seen when they're driving along at 50mph but when they're sat at traffic lights it's another matter entirely!
I've just been sat at the lights at the Burton end of the Trent Bridge and some chap in a red Volvo was sat behind me merrily picking away. I thought he was going to lose his hand at one point. He only stopped when I turned round and gave him a thumbs up sign and in fact he looked quite shocked that somehow I'd been able to see him through his Harry Potter invisibility cloak (ie car windscreen).
You may ask why I gave him a thumbs up sign when what he was doing was in fact quite gross? Well, it's because recent research shows that picking your nose is good for you ...... and eating it is even better!!!!
Yes, I know it's hard to swallow (sorry :-) ) but apparently it's true. Here's a news story I saw recently:
Top doc backs picking your nose and eating it
Picking your nose and eating it is one of the best ways to stay healthy, according to a top Austrian doctor.
Innsbruck-based lung specialist Prof Dr Friedrich Bischinger said people who pick their noses with their fingers were healthy, happier and probably better in tune with their bodies.
He says society should adopt a new approach to nose-picking and encourage children to take it up.
Dr Bischinger said: "With the finger you can get to places you just can't reach with a handkerchief, keeping your nose far cleaner.
"And eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system.
"Medically it makes great sense and is a perfectly natural thing to do. In terms of the immune system the nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria are collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine.
"Modern medicine is constantly trying to do the same thing through far more complicated methods, people who pick their nose and eat it get a natural boost to their immune system for free."
He pointed out that children happily pick their noses, yet by the time they have become adults they have stopped under pressure from a society that has branded it disgusting and anti social.
He said: "I would recommend a new approach where children are encouraged to pick their nose. It is a completely natural response and medically a good idea as well."
And he pointed out that if anyone was really worried about what their neighbour was thinking, they could still enjoy picking their nose in private if they still wanted to get the benefits it offered.
So perhaps next time you see a driver picking their nose you should give them a thumbs up too because we now know they're just trying to improve their own health. Perhaps we should all pick our noses as we drive along. Perhaps Burton's Queens Hospital will be a quieter place because we'll all be much healthier (yes I know I could go into the dangers of having one hand up your nose and not on the steering wheel but I'm just not going there!). Perhaps this will catch on and as we drive along picking our noses we'll try to spot the odd person who is NOT picking too. Perhaps there'll be a Burton on Trent Picking Club. Perhaps pickers will get cheaper health insurance ........
and then again .......perhaps not (or should that be perhap snot)!!!!!!!!
Chris Towland
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