# What makes your nose clog up?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-your-nose-clog-up/158173>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 28, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-your-nose-clog-up/158173 "2003-02-28T17:27:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-your-nose-clog-up/158173/1 "2003-02-28T17:27:49Z")

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How come when you get sick, your nose clogs up? Is it supposed to be some kind of “defense mechanism” for your body?

How come sometimes only one side of your nose clogs up when you lay down, and when you roll over the other side clogs up?

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-your-nose-clog-up/158173/2 "2003-02-28T21:11:23Z")

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There was [a column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a971017.html) on this, but I dont think it sufficiently got into why, in some instances it clogs up. I, for one, want to know this as well, since I have had a cold for 4 days and have not yet gotten to the stage of having a stuffed-up nose. I am wondering if I will recover without that stage, or possibly get it like I have always done before, only later.

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**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-your-nose-clog-up/158173/3 "2003-02-28T21:24:46Z")

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**What makes your nose clog up?**

Well, that would be snot. \<_snort_\>

Ahem.

Actually, my understanding is that it’s the body’s way of getting germs out. They get bogged down in mucus which your body then expells.

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**Author:** ![Thaumaturge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@Thaumaturge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaumaturge)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-your-nose-clog-up/158173/4 "2003-02-28T22:15:18Z")

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Yes, it’s the same sort of defense as diarreah. The body attempts to flush the offending organism away.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it kills you.