Fun facts about your nose and sinuses
If you thought your sinuses are in your nose, think again. They are actually air-filled spaces in the skull, which are located in the forehead, medial to the eyes, and in the cheeks. With four sets of sinuses, you’d think they’d have a well-defined function, but actually we don’t know why we have sinuses. A few theories have been debated.
- They decrease the weight of the head making it easier to hold up
- Increasing resonance of the voice
- Providing some protection by acting as shock absorbers in case you hit your head
- Insulating sensitive structures like teeth roots
One thing we do know about sinuses is that they are lined with a mucus membrane that makes thin mucus that swirls around and out of the sinus and drains into the nose. When sinuses get infected, the channel through which the mucus drains is constricted causing a stuffy nose.
The nose is another interesting body part that doesn’t get much attention but is very important. The nasal passageway functions as self-cleaning air conditioner. By the time the air we breathe gets to our lungs the nose has filtered, humidified and warmed.