Why Do We Get a Runny Nose When We Cry

Almost everyone has noticed it. You start to cry, and within a minute your nose starts to run as well. You reach for a tissue for your eyes, and then you need one for your nose too. It can feel strange, almost as if your nose is crying along with your eyes, and many people wonder whether something is wrong. Nothing is wrong. A runny nose while crying is one of the most normal things the body does, and it has a simple physical reason. Your eyes and your nose are connected by a small drain, and when you cry, far more tears are made than your eyes can hold. The extra tears have to go somewhere, and the nearest place is your nose.

To understand this, it helps to start with what tears are for. Tears are not only made when you are sad. Your eyes make a small amount of tears all day, every day, without you noticing. These quiet tears keep the surface of the eye wet, smooth and clean. Every time you blink, a thin film of tears spreads across the eye, washes away dust, and keeps the eye comfortable. Without that film, your eyes would feel dry, sore and gritty within minutes. So tears are a daily cleaning and watering system, not just a sign of sadness. Crying is simply the same system working much harder than usual.

When you feel strong emotion, or when something irritates your eye, the tear glands above each eye start to work at full speed. They make far more tears than the eye needs for ordinary wetting. The extra tears spill over the edge of the eyelid and run down the cheek. That is the part of crying that everyone can see. What most people do not see is the part that goes the other way. A good share of those tears does not fall down your face at all. It drains away through a small opening at the inner corner of each eye, travels down a narrow tube, and ends up inside your nose. Once there, it mixes with the mucus that is already in your nose, and together they come out as a runny nose. In short, the wetness in your nose while you cry is mostly tears that have taken a different road.

The Small Drain That Joins Your Eyes to Your Nose

At the inner corner of each eye, close to the nose, there is a tiny opening that is easy to miss. It sits on the edge of the eyelid, and it is called a punctum. There is one on the upper lid and one on the lower lid, and the lower one does most of the work. When you blink, the eyelids press gently against the eye and push tears towards these openings, like a slow pump moving water towards a drain. From the opening, the tears pass into a small tube called the canaliculus, then into a little pouch, and then down a longer tube called the nasolacrimal duct. That duct runs down the side of the nose and opens into the inside of the nose, below the lower shelf of tissue that lines the nasal passage.

This drain is working all the time, even when you are not crying. The small, steady amount of tears your eyes make during the day drains away through it quietly, and you never notice, because the amount is tiny and the nose handles it without any trouble. The inside of the nose is already wet. It is lined with a thin layer of mucus that catches dust and germs, and a little extra water from the eyes simply blends in and is swallowed or breathed out without a thought. The system is so quiet that most people live their whole lives without knowing it exists.

Crying changes the amount, and that is why you notice it. Instead of a few drops spread across the whole day, the tear glands suddenly make a flood. The drain can still carry a good part of that flood, but it cannot carry all of it at once. Some tears spill over the eyelid and down the cheek, and some travel down the duct into the nose. The nose, which is used to a small trickle, suddenly receives a much larger flow, and it cannot absorb it all. The result is a nose that drips and needs blowing. The harder and longer you cry, the more tears are made, and the runnier the nose becomes. When the crying slows down, the tear glands slow down too, the drain catches up, and the nose dries within a few minutes.

What Tears Are Made Of, and Why They Feel Like Water in the Nose

Tears are mostly water, with a little salt, a little oil and a few proteins mixed in. The salt is why tears taste salty if they reach your lips, and it is also why your nose can feel slightly sore if you blow it many times during a long cry. The oil comes from tiny glands along the edge of the eyelid, and it stops the tears from drying out too quickly. The proteins help protect the eye from germs. But the main part, by far, is water. That is why the fluid that reaches your nose feels thin and watery, very different from the thicker mucus your nose makes when you have a cold.

Your nose is always making mucus, and that mucus has its own job. It traps dust, pollen and germs from the air you breathe, and tiny hairs inside the nose move that mucus slowly towards the back of the throat, where it is swallowed without you noticing. When tears arrive from the eyes, they thin that mucus and add to its volume. The mixture becomes runnier and harder to hold back, so it drips from the front of the nose instead of moving quietly to the back. That is why a runny nose from crying feels clear and watery at first, rather than thick and coloured, which is more common with a cold.

There is another detail that adds to the effect. When you cry, you often breathe differently. You take short, sharp breaths, you sniff, and you may breathe more through your mouth. Sniffing pulls the tears and mucus back into the nose for a moment, and then they come forward again. It also draws more air through the nose, which can make the lining of the nose feel cold and sensitive. All of this is normal. The nose is not ill, and it is not making a special kind of fluid because you are sad. It is simply receiving extra water from the eyes and doing its best to clear it.

Why Some Cries Give You a Runny Nose and Others Do Not

Not every cry leads to the same runny nose. A few quiet tears, the kind that fill the eyes for a moment and then pass, may barely affect the nose at all. The drain can handle that amount easily, and the nose absorbs the small extra flow without dripping. A long, hard cry is different. It makes far more tears over a longer time, and the drain and the nose both reach their limit. That is why the nose often starts to run a little after the tears start, rather than at the exact same second, and why it can keep running for a few minutes after the tears stop. The tears that have already drained into the nose still need to come out.

The way you cry also matters. If you cry with your eyes squeezed shut and your face pressed into a pillow or a handkerchief, more tears may stay on the face and less may reach the drain. If you cry with your eyes open and you blink often, the blinking pumps more tears towards the drain, and the nose may run more. If you sniff a lot, you pull tears into the nose again and again, which keeps it running. None of these ways is better or worse. They are just small differences in how the same system behaves, and they explain why two people can cry over the same sad film and one of them needs a whole box of tissues while the other needs only one.

Age and the shape of the face play a small part too. In babies and young children, the tear duct is narrower, and it can block more easily, so a crying baby often has a very runny nose and wet cheeks at the same time. In older people, the muscles around the eyelids can become a little weaker, so the pump that pushes tears towards the drain works less strongly, and more tears spill down the cheek instead of going to the nose. People who already have a cold, an allergy or a stuffy nose will notice the effect more, because their nose is already full of mucus and swollen lining, so even a small amount of extra tears is enough to make it drip. In a healthy nose, the effect is still there, but it passes quickly.

Crying, Sniffing and the Feeling of a Blocked Nose

Many people say that after a good cry their nose feels blocked as well as runny, and that can seem confusing. How can a nose be both blocked and running at the same time? The answer lies in the lining inside the nose. That lining is full of tiny blood vessels, and when you cry, the same strong feelings that make tears flow can also make those vessels swell a little. The tissue inside the nose grows thicker, the passages become narrower, and breathing through the nose feels harder. At the same time, the extra fluid from the tears is still trying to come out. So you get the strange combination of a nose that feels stuffed up and a nose that drips.

This swelling is the same kind of response that happens when you have a cold or an allergy, but the cause is different and the effect is much shorter. With a cold, the swelling lasts for days because the body is fighting germs. With crying, the swelling fades as the feelings settle and the tear glands slow down. Breathing through the mouth for a while, blowing the nose gently, and sitting upright can all help the nose feel clearer sooner. Blowing too hard can make the lining sorer, so a gentle blow, one nostril at a time, is kinder than a single forceful blast. Within a short time, the vessels settle, the passages open again, and breathing returns to normal.

It is also worth knowing that crying can make your eyes look red and puffy for the same reason. The tear glands work hard, the blood vessels around the eyes widen, and fluid gathers in the thin skin of the eyelids. The nose and the eyes are neighbours, and they share the same network of vessels and the same drain. That is why a hard cry often leaves the whole face looking swollen for a while, not just the eyes. A cool cloth on the eyes, a few minutes of quiet breathing, and time are usually all it takes for the face to return to normal. The body does not need any special treatment for this. It simply needs a little time to clear the extra fluid and let the swelling go down.

The Difference Between a Runny Nose From Crying and One From a Cold

Because a runny nose from crying looks like the start of a cold, some people worry that crying has made them ill, or that a cold is coming. In most cases, the two are easy to tell apart once you know what to look for. A runny nose from crying is clear and watery, it starts during or just after the cry, and it stops within minutes to an hour after the crying stops. It does not bring a sore throat, a fever, body aches or a cough. It does not last into the next day. It is simply water from the eyes passing through the nose.

A runny nose from a cold behaves differently. It often starts thick or becomes thick after a day or two, it can change colour, and it comes with other signs such as a sore throat, sneezing, a blocked nose that lasts for days, tiredness, and sometimes a mild fever. It does not start and stop with a single emotional moment. It follows the slow pattern of an illness. An allergy is different again. It often brings itching in the eyes and nose, repeated sneezing, and a runny nose that comes back every time you meet the thing you are sensitive to, such as dust or pollen. Crying does not cause any of these. It only adds water to a nose that is otherwise healthy, and once the water is gone, the nose goes back to normal.

There is one overlap worth mentioning. If you already have a cold or an allergy, crying can make the runny nose feel worse for a while, because the nose is already full and swollen. That does not mean the crying caused the cold. It only means the two things happened at the same time, and the extra tears added to an already busy nose. In the same way, crying in cold air can make the nose run more, because cold air already makes the nose produce extra mucus to warm and moisten the air you breathe. Again, the crying is not the cause of an illness. It is simply adding one normal flow of fluid to another.

Why the Body Links Tears and the Nose at All

It may seem like a strange design to join the eyes to the nose, but the connection makes good sense when you think about what the body needs. The eye needs a constant supply of clean water to stay comfortable, and that water has to go somewhere after it has done its job. If it stayed on the surface of the eye, the eye would flood. If it only spilled down the cheek, the face would be wet all day. A drain into the nose solves the problem neatly. The nose is already wet, it is already built to handle fluid, and it can pass the extra water on without any fuss. The body reuses one passage for two jobs, and that keeps the face dry during the day.

The same link also helps protect the eye. When something gets into the eye, such as dust, smoke or a small insect, the tear glands make a sudden rush of tears to wash it out. Some of that rush spills down the cheek, but a good part of it drains into the nose, carrying the dust or irritant away from the eye. The nose then catches that material in its mucus and moves it towards the throat, where it is swallowed and dealt with safely. So the drain is not only a way to remove extra water. It is also part of the cleaning system that keeps the eye safe from things that should not stay there.

From the point of view of feelings, the link is a reminder that the body does not keep its systems separate. Strong feelings affect breathing, the heart, the stomach and the face all at once. Crying is not only a matter of tears. It is a whole-body response, and the nose is part of that response because it is joined to the eyes by a real tube. That is why trying to stop a runny nose while crying, by holding the tears back or pinching the nose shut, rarely works well. The tears are still being made, and they still need somewhere to go. Letting the cry run its course, breathing calmly, and blowing the nose gently is usually the simplest way through it.

What to Do When Your Nose Runs While You Cry

Most of the time, nothing special needs to be done. The nose will stop running on its own a few minutes after the crying stops. But a few simple habits can make the time more comfortable. Keep a soft tissue nearby, and blow gently, one nostril at a time, rather than blowing hard through both nostrils at once. Hard blowing can push fluid into the ears, make the nose sorer, and even cause a little bleeding if the lining is dry. A soft tissue is kinder than rough paper, and dabbing the skin under the nose is kinder than rubbing it again and again, which can leave the skin red and sore.

Sitting upright helps, because gravity lets the fluid drain forward and out, instead of pooling inside the nose. If you lie flat while crying, more fluid stays in the nose and the throat, and you may feel the need to swallow or cough. Drinking a little water after a long cry can help too, because crying loses water from the body, and a drink replaces some of it and soothes the throat. A cool, damp cloth on the eyes can ease the puffiness and the redness, and a few slow breaths can help the breathing settle. These are small comforts, not treatments. They do not stop the tears, and they do not need to. They simply make the minutes after a cry a little easier.

There are times when it is worth paying attention, but they are not about an ordinary runny nose from crying. If the nose runs on one side only for a long time without any crying, if there is a bad smell, if there is blood that does not stop, or if the eye itself is painful, red for days, or full of thick discharge, those are signs to ask a health professional about, because they may point to a blocked duct or an infection. A blocked tear duct, for example, can make the eye water all the time, even when a person is not crying, and it can lead to repeated infections. That is a different problem from a runny nose during a cry. An ordinary cry, with a clear runny nose that fades quickly, is not a sign of illness, and it does not need a doctor. It is the body doing exactly what it was built to do.

Why Crying in Different Places Can Feel Different

The place where you cry can change how much your nose runs, and the reason is usually the air around you. In cold winter air, the nose already makes extra mucus to warm and moisten each breath before it reaches the lungs, so a cry in cold air adds tears to a nose that is already busy. The result is a nose that runs faster and for longer. In dry, dusty air, the nose also works harder, because dust and dry air irritate the lining and make it produce more fluid. A cry indoors, in warm, still air, is often gentler on the nose, because the lining is calm and the only extra fluid is the tears themselves. None of this means that cold or dusty air is dangerous. It only means that the nose is doing two jobs at once, and the runny nose is the sign of that double work.

The time of day can matter too, in a small way. At night, when you lie down, fluid gathers more easily in the nose because gravity no longer pulls it forward and out. A cry late at night, in bed, can leave the nose feeling fuller and more blocked than the same cry in the morning, when you are sitting upright and the fluid can drain forward. This is also why a long cry can leave you sniffing for a while after you have stopped crying, even though the tears themselves have slowed down. The fluid that has already drained into the nose is still there, and it needs a few minutes, a few gentle blows, and a little time upright to clear. The body is not slow or broken. It is simply clearing a passage that was filled more quickly than it could empty.

How Long a Runny Nose From Crying Should Last

For most people, a runny nose from crying lasts only a few minutes after the tears stop. The tear glands slow down, the drain catches up, and the nose returns to its normal, quiet state. If the cry was very long and hard, the nose may keep running for half an hour, and the eyes may stay puffy for a little longer, but the worst of the running usually fades quickly. The skin under the nose may stay a little red if you have blown it many times, and the nose may feel tender for a while, but that tenderness also fades on its own. There is no special treatment needed, and no medicine is required, because there is no illness to treat. The body is simply returning to its normal balance after a burst of extra fluid.

If a runny nose lasts for days after a cry, or if it comes with a fever, a sore throat, a cough, or a feeling of pressure in the face, then the cause is probably not the crying itself. It may be that a cold or an allergy began at the same time, and the crying only made the first signs more noticeable. That is a common overlap, and it can be confusing, because the timing makes it look as if the tears caused the illness. In truth, the tears only added water to a nose that was already becoming ill, and the illness then followed its own course. The useful test is time. A runny nose from crying fades in minutes. A runny nose from a cold stays, changes, and brings other signs with it. Knowing that difference saves worry, and it also helps you decide when to simply wait and when to ask a health professional for advice.

My Take:

When I first learned that tears drain into the nose, I felt a small sense of relief, because a thing I had noticed all my life suddenly had a clear reason behind it. I had always thought of crying as something that happened in the eyes, and the runny nose felt like a separate, slightly embarrassing side effect. Learning that the eyes and the nose share a drain changed the picture for me. It is not two separate things happening at once. It is one flow of water taking two roads, one over the cheek and one down into the nose. That simple fact makes the whole experience feel less strange, and I think that is the value of understanding the body in plain words. When you know why something happens, it stops feeling like a fault and starts feeling like a design.

I think the runny nose is a good reminder that feelings live in the body, not only in the mind. When we are sad, we do not only think sad thoughts. Our breathing changes, our chest feels tight, our eyes fill, and our nose runs. The body takes part in the feeling, and it does so through real tubes and real fluids, not through imagination. I find that comforting, in a way, because it means that crying is not a sign of weakness or a loss of control. It is the body doing a job it was built to do, clearing the eyes, moving water through a drain, and letting the feeling pass through. A runny nose is simply the visible proof that the system is working.

There is also something honest about the way the body handles tears that I respect. It does not hide the extra water or store it away. It moves it on, through the drain, into the nose, and out again. It does not pretend that the feeling did not happen. In the same way, I think it is healthier to let a cry finish than to hold it back because of embarrassment about a runny nose. Holding tears back does not stop them from being made, and it does not stop the nose from running when they finally come. It only delays the process and adds tension to it. A tissue, a quiet minute, and a few slow breaths are usually enough, and after that the face clears on its own. I have seen people apologise for crying and for needing a tissue for their nose, as if both were faults, and I wish they would not. Both are normal, and both pass.

I also think about children here, because children cry openly and their noses run openly, and nobody tells a child that this is strange. A child cries, the nose runs, a parent wipes both, and life goes on. Adults learn to feel shy about the same thing, and they try to cry quietly, to sniff instead of blowing, to hide the tissue. I think we lose something in that shyness. The body has not changed. Only our feelings about it have changed. If we could keep a little of the child’s plain attitude, that tears come, the nose runs, and then it stops, we would probably feel calmer about crying in general. The nose is not misbehaving. It is simply doing its part in a shared system.

Another thought that stays with me is how small the parts are. The opening at the corner of the eye is tiny. The tube that carries tears to the nose is narrow. Yet that small passage handles a steady trickle all day without us ever noticing, and it handles a flood during a cry as well as it can. I find that impressive. The body is full of these small, quiet passages that we never think about until they are busy, and they do their work without any instruction from us. Blinking pumps the tears. The nose catches the extra water. Breathing carries on. We do not have to manage any of it. That is worth remembering on days when the body feels like a mystery. Much of it is working quietly in our favour, even when we do not understand how.

I would also say that knowing the difference between a runny nose from crying and one from a cold is useful, not because the knowledge is clever, but because it saves worry. I have known people who cried at a funeral or after bad news, and then spent the next day worrying that they had caught a cold, because their nose had run so much. They had not caught a cold. They had cried, and the tears had drained into the nose, and the nose had done its job. If they had known that the fluid was clear, that it started with the tears and stopped soon after, and that it brought no fever or sore throat, they could have saved themselves a day of worry. Simple knowledge like that is not a small thing. It is the difference between fear and calm, and calm is worth a lot on a sad day.

My final view is simple. A runny nose when you cry is normal, it is physical, and it is temporary. The tears are mostly water, the drain joins the eye to the nose, and the extra water has to come out somewhere. When the crying slows, the nose dries, the swelling fades, and breathing returns to normal. There is nothing to fix, nothing to be embarrassed about, and nothing to fear in the ordinary case. Keep a soft tissue close, blow gently, sit upright, drink a little water, and give the body a few minutes. That is all it asks. And if the nose keeps running long after the tears have stopped, or if it comes with pain, fever, or blood, then ask a health professional, because that is a different story. But for the ordinary cry, the runny nose is not a problem. It is the body finishing what it started, in the quiet, practical way it always does.

I also think it is worth remembering that crying itself is not a problem to be solved, and that the runny nose is not a separate problem either. Sometimes people try to stop crying quickly because they are embarrassed by the tears and the tissue, and they hold their breath, press their lips together, and try to look calm. That effort often makes the face redder and the breathing harder, and when the tears finally come, they come with a nose that runs even more, because the feelings were held back and then released all at once. A gentler way is to let the cry happen, to breathe slowly, and to let the tears and the nose do what they do. The body knows how to finish a cry. It has done it many times before, and it will do it again, without any instruction from us, if we give it a quiet minute.

There is also a practical point about tissues that I think is worth saying plainly. A soft tissue, used gently, is kinder than a rough one, and dabbing is kinder than rubbing. The skin under the nose is thin, and after a long cry it can become red and sore from wiping, not from the tears themselves. A little plain moisturiser on the sore skin, once the crying has stopped, can help it heal, and drinking water can help replace the fluid that was lost. These are small comforts, but on a sad day small comforts matter, and they are the kind of care that costs almost nothing and asks almost nothing in return. I think we should not be shy about offering them, to ourselves or to others, because they are a simple way of saying that the body deserves kindness while it is doing its work.

If a friend asked me why their nose runs every time they cry, I would tell them this story in the same plain words, and I would not make it sound like a medical lecture. I would say that their eyes and nose share a small drain, that tears are mostly water, and that a hard cry makes more tears than the drain can carry, so some spill down the cheek and some run into the nose. I would tell them that sniffing makes it worse, that blowing gently is kinder, and that the nose will dry on its own. I think most people would feel better hearing that, because it turns a slightly awkward experience into a clear, understandable one. And I think that is what good health information should do. It should not frighten people or impress them with long words. It should explain a normal thing in normal words, and leave the person calmer than they were before. A runny nose while crying is a normal thing, and now it has a normal explanation, and that is enough.

I also think about how we talk to children about crying, because the words we use shape how they feel about their own bodies for years. If a child cries and an adult says, do not cry, or stop making a mess, the child learns that tears and a runny nose are shameful. If an adult says, it is all right, here is a tissue, your nose runs because your tears drain into it, the child learns that the body is understandable and that feelings are allowed. I prefer the second way, not because it is soft, but because it is true. A child who understands why their nose runs will not be frightened by it, and a child who is not frightened by crying will find it easier to let feelings pass instead of holding them in. That is a lesson worth teaching early, and it costs nothing more than a tissue and a plain explanation.

There is another angle I keep returning to, and it is about how little we are taught about the body in everyday life. Most people can name the parts of a car or a phone, but they cannot name the small drain that joins the eye to the nose, even though it works for them every day. I think that is a gap worth filling, not with long lessons, but with small, clear explanations like this one. When people know that tears are mostly water, that the drain carries them to the nose, and that a runny nose during a cry is simply that water coming out, they feel less helpless about their own bodies. They stop guessing, they stop worrying, and they start noticing how sensibly the body is put together. That noticing is a form of respect, and I think the body deserves it.

I would also say something about the people who cry often and worry that something is wrong with their tear glands or their nose. In most cases, crying often is not a problem with the eyes or the nose. It is a sign that life is hard at the moment, or that feelings are close to the surface, and the body is responding as it should. The runny nose is not the problem to solve. The feelings behind the tears are the thing to attend to, with rest, with talk, with time, and with the support of people who care. The nose will take care of itself. It always does. It drains, it clears, and it dries. What needs care is the person, not the passage, and I think it helps to say that clearly, so that no one spends their energy worrying about a tissue when they should be spending it on rest and kindness to themselves.

Finally, I want to say that I admire the simplicity of this system. The body could have made tears in a way that left the face wet all day, or it could have given the eyes no drain at all, and we would have had to wipe our eyes constantly. Instead, it built a small, quiet tube, hidden at the corner of the eye, that carries the extra water to a place that is already built to handle fluid. That is good design, and it works without our help, without our attention, and without any instruction. I think there is a lesson in that for how we treat the body in general. Much of the time, it does not need us to manage it or to fix it. It needs us to understand it, to give it a little time, and to let it finish the job it started. A runny nose while crying is a small example of that, and it is a good one to remember the next time tears come and the tissue box is close at hand.

Frequently Asked Questions

In simple words, what does “why do we get a runny nose when we cry” mean?

It means asking why the nose starts to drip and run during crying. In simple words, tears are made in the glands above the eyes, and a small drain at the inner corner of each eye carries many of those tears down a narrow tube into the nose. When you cry hard, far more tears are made than usual, the nose receives extra water, and that water mixes with the mucus already in the nose and comes out as a runny nose.

Why do people ask “why do we get a runny nose when we cry” so often?

People ask it so often because almost everyone has felt it, yet very few people know about the drain that joins the eye to the nose. The nose running during a sad moment can feel strange, and some people worry that they are catching a cold or that something is wrong. Once they learn that tears are mostly water and that the extra tears have to drain somewhere, the question answers itself, and the worry fades.

Does “why do we get a runny nose when we cry” change with age or daily routine?

Yes, it can change a little with age. In babies and young children the tear duct is narrower, so a crying baby often has a very runny nose. In older people the muscles around the eyelids can be weaker, so more tears spill down the cheek and fewer reach the nose. Daily routine matters less than the state of the nose itself: if you already have a cold or an allergy, your nose is already full, so even a small cry can make it run more.

When is “why do we get a runny nose when we cry” most noticeable?

It is most noticeable during a long, hard cry, when the tear glands make a large amount of tears over several minutes. A few quiet tears may barely affect the nose, because the drain can handle that amount easily. The nose also runs more if you blink often, sniff a lot, or cry in cold air, because cold air already makes the nose produce extra mucus. The runniness usually peaks while you are crying and fades within a few minutes after you stop.

What do people notice first when they ask “why do we get a runny nose when we cry”?

People usually notice the timing first: the nose starts to run a little after the tears start, and it keeps running for a short while after the tears stop. Then they notice that the fluid is clear and watery, very different from the thicker mucus of a cold. Many also notice that the nose feels blocked at the same time as it runs, because the lining inside the nose swells a little during a strong cry, narrowing the passages while fluid is still coming out.

How is “why do we get a runny nose when we cry” different from one day to the next?

It differs because no two cries are the same. A short cry makes fewer tears and barely affects the nose, while a long cry makes many more and leaves the nose running for longer. The state of the nose matters too: on a day when you already have a cold, an allergy, or a stuffy nose, crying will make the running worse, while on a healthy day the nose will dry quickly once the tears stop. How much you sniff and blink also changes how much fluid reaches the nose.

Sources

• NHS — general health information: https://www.nhs.uk/
• World Health Organization — health topics: https://www.who.int/
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — health information: https://www.cdc.gov/
• Mayo Clinic — general health information: https://www.mayoclinic.org/
• Healthline — general health information: https://www.healthline.com/