Allergens: why do they make you cough?

You are in your living room. Someone is cleaning the room. Some dust floats in the air. Suddenly, you cough.

Have you ever wondered why?

For the longest time, we believed coughing came from congestion or infection. But a new study in Nature offers a very different explanation.

Researchers have discovered something fascinating. When you breathe in allergens like pollen or dust, they do more than irritate your throat.

They create tiny holes in your airway cells.

Think of it like a pinprick. Small, but enough to trigger an alarm. Your body responds immediately.

Cells in your airways release a burst of signals. These signals travel to nerve endings that line your lungs and throat.

These are not ordinary nerves. They are sensitive, fast, and wired straight to the part of your brain that controls coughing.

So you cough. Not because of mucus. Not because of infection. You cough because your body has sensed a threat and wants to throw it out.

This process is called neuroimmune communication.

Two powerful systems in your body, the immune system and the nervous system, are talking to each other. The immune cells send out distress signals.

The nerves hear them and take action.

Together, they create a fast, protective response. But in many people, this system is too sensitive. It reacts to things that are not truly harmful.

A little pollen. Some dust. Cold air.

You cough more. Your throat feels irritated. Breathing can feel laboured. This is called cough hypersensitivity. I had the same problem for years.

So, for someone like me, this discovery matters.

Because if we can calm these nerves, we can reduce allergic coughing without switching off your immune system.

So next time you cough in a dusty room, remember. Your body is not broken.

In fact, it is alert, responsive, and trying to protect you. Even a small hole in a single cell can set off a reaction.

In this case, it is a cough.

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