XNUMX good reasons to stop using cotton swabs
'04.08.2021'
Source: Clever
Doctors and scientists agree that the use of ear sticks can be dangerous not only for humans, but also for nature, says the portal. Clever.
It would seem, what new can be in the habit of using cotton swabs? Most people, armed with a cotton swab every day, gently clean the auricle and ear canal. But many years of scientific research have shown that this is not necessary! And in general, you should not use cotton swabs. Inquisitive contemporaries and indefatigable scientists, researchers, following the example of grandfather Honore de Balzac, believe that "the key to any science is a question mark", which is why they tirelessly question long-standing dogmas and traditions. Thanks to such an inquisitive mind, they successfully proved that plastic cotton swabs are far from the best invention of mankind.
Cotton buds harm your ears
It was unclean ears and the presence of sulfur in the ear canal that previously explained hearing impairment, an unpleasant odor, and so on. In this regard, there is a common phrase "you need to clean your ears!"
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And during the existence of the Soviet Union, in the absence of cotton ear swabs in the production, caring mothers got along with improvised means. Having wrapped ordinary cotton wool around a match, they cleaned the ears of their offspring and household with the same diligence. So why has the long tradition of cleaning your ears with a very dangerous object in your ear subject to harsh criticism? There are several reasons for this.
Why you can't clean your ears with cotton swabs
- As experts from the American Academy of Otolaryngology have proved, by inserting a cotton swab into the ear, we take out only a small part of the sulfur. We independently push the main mass even deeper into the ear, thereby contributing to the formation of sulfur plugs.
- "Poking", scrolling and pushing a cotton swab into the ear, we, without knowing it, regularly disturb the eardrum, touch it.
- Wielding a cotton swab in the area of the finest tissues and organs, we risk significantly impairing hearing, causing disruption of the auditory organs.
- Scientists have proven that earwax produced by the body is actually extremely beneficial. In principle, it is extremely difficult to argue with this, because the human body really does not produce anything just like that:
- earwax regularly formed by the body significantly reduces the risk of trauma to hearing organs by foreign objects;
- insects such as bees, mosquitoes, midges and even flies, which now and then try to bite a person and crawl into the most unexpected place, cannot penetrate into the depths of the ear, since it is sulfur that protects this organ;
- in a modern person, so susceptible to various fungal diseases, the risk of getting a fungus in the ear canal is significantly reduced, according to a specialist from the Academy of Otolaryngology Seth Schwartz: it is sulfur that stands guard over this situation, since it copes with such threats perfectly;
- itching, dry skin in the auricle, inflammation of the ear tissues - all this will not happen to you, because earwax acts as a natural moisturizer for the ear canal;
- the more often we clean our ears, the more wax will be. Making too much earwax is called wax hypersecretion; the main cause of hypersecretion is irritation of the skin of the ear canal; the main reason for this irritation is hearing aids and cotton swabs.
After such stunning discoveries of scientists, a natural question arises: how, then, to remove wax from the ears? There is only one answer - no way! It does not need to be removed. If you are in doubt about how clean your ears are, whether there are sulfur plugs in the ear canal, or if you have strange sensations in your ears, the only correct solution would be to seek the advice of a specialist. For daily hygiene and wiping the outer part of the auricle, it is quite enough to wipe the skin with a cotton swab or even just a finger. In any case, this is exactly what the Russian otolaryngologist Vladimir Zaitsev advises to do.
Plastic cotton swabs spoil the environment
For those who are not convinced by the list of reasons why cotton swabs are extremely dangerous for cleaning ears, we will give one more reason. Each of us knows that cotton swabs are made of plastic. So it is plastic that is the main threat to the environment of the whole planet! And this problem, having acquired a global scale, became the main topic at the meeting of the European Commission in Brussels, which took place just a couple of months ago. It was in May of this year that the Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, published a list of plastic products banned from now on, including cotton swabs. In his opinion, the ban on these products should help "together solve the problem of plastic waste in the world's oceans." Plastic products make up more than 80% of the waste. It is because of the listed scientific facts that ear sticks are already banned in a number of countries or are on the verge of banning. Among them are France, Britain, Italy, Scotland, Czech Republic.
Perhaps to some, such scientific discoveries will seem strange, and someone will even say that they have been cleaning, using, and nothing! But as an argument, one can recall a phrase that was once uttered by the greatest British writer William Somerset Maugham. Thinking about the benefits of discoveries, he said: "What could be more useful than learning to live in the best way for yourself?"
