What if you stopped coughing forever?
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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]