What If You Never Coughed?

WHAT IF

8/7/2023

What if you stopped coughing forever?

Transcript

00:00 We all know that annoying tickle in the throat

00:05 that means only one thing.

00:07 You're about to cough it out.

00:10 Wouldn't it be great if nobody coughed in the open air,

00:14 spreading germs and mucus in all directions?

00:17 Especially when you're around.

00:20 Sometimes, I wish we didn't cough at all.

00:24 How much better would a cough-free life be for all of us?

00:28 Or would it turn out to be deadly?

00:32 A cough is a reflex that humans and many animals have.

00:45 This noisy explosion coming from deep within your lungs

00:49 isn't something you can easily control.

00:52 But for this hypothetical scenario,

00:54 you'll have to ignore your reflexes

00:57 and take your cough into your own hands.

01:00 How would this play out?

01:02 (coughing)

01:03 Let's see.

01:04 (coughing)

01:04 Your cough doesn't start in your lungs.

01:08 It begins with you breathing in and drawing air into them.

01:13 Then, your glottis snaps shut and puts a lid over your trachea.

01:19 The muscles of your chest cage, abdomen, and diaphragm

01:22 undergo a forceful contraction.

01:25 Normally, they push air out of your nose and mouth.

01:28 But because the glottis is closed,

01:30 a tremendous pressure keeps building up in the air passages.

01:34 When the glottis opens up again,

01:37 the air rushes through it very quickly.

01:40 In a strong cough,

01:41 that air can travel at speeds close to the speed of sound.

01:45 And that's what makes that barking noise come out of your chest.

01:50 In a cough-free world,

01:52 your glottis wouldn't shut and the air

01:55 wouldn't get stuck in your lungs and trachea.

01:58 And you wouldn't make any barking noises.

02:01 Sounds like an easy fix, right?

02:03 Not so fast.

02:05 Coughing happens for a reason.

02:07 It keeps our throats and airways free of irritants.

02:11 When foreign particles like dirt and dust get into your lungs,

02:14 they irritate your airways.

02:17 That, in turn, stimulates nerves to send a message to your brain.

02:21 And that message says something like,

02:23 "All abdomen and chest muscles, prepare to push the air out.

02:27 That's an order."

02:29 And that's how your body gets rid of the stuff it doesn't need.

02:32 That includes dust, dirt, mucus, and also bacteria.

02:37 If you never coughed,

02:38 you wouldn't be spreading germs and diseases to other people.

02:42 But you would be infecting yourself.

02:45 Because coughing can be an indication of sickness,

02:49 you might not even know that you were sick.

02:51 There would be more cases of lung infections,

02:54 and more cases of respiratory failure.

02:56 And some of them wouldn't end up well.

03:00 In a world where nobody coughs,

03:03 you'd have to practice social isolation

03:05 to avoid inhaling any irritants

03:07 that could make their way to your lungs.

03:09 And it wouldn't only last a month or two.

03:13 That isolation would be for life.

03:17 Or you could wear a hazmat suit everywhere you go.

03:21 A cough-free world would be a very lonely world.

03:26 Global isolation would cause anxiety and depression.

03:30 Anxiety and depression would trigger a lack of productivity.

03:33 And the lack of productivity would make global economies collapse.

03:39 It seems counterintuitive, but coughing is good for you.

03:44 One study shows that a healthy person coughs about 11 times in one day.

03:49 Coughing is so important to your survival

03:52 that the medical community has developed the "assist cough" techniques

03:56 to help people get the mucus out of their lungs

03:58 when they can't do it on their own.

04:01 Luckily, coughing is an involuntary reflex, just like blinking.

04:06 You can't turn it on and off whenever you want.

04:09 But you can at least cover your mouth and nose with a tissue

04:13 when you cough, or cough into your elbow.

04:16 Just don't cough into the open air,

04:18 and most certainly don't cough on other people.

04:22 And remember to wash your hands with soap.

04:26 Because if you don't,

04:28 well, that's a story for another WHAT IF.

04:33 [music]

04:39 [coughing]

Category

Transcript

Recommended