That awkward moment is more common than it seems. You’re quietly chatting, having coffee, or spending time with your family, and suddenly that annoying feeling of thick phlegm appears in your throat. You clear your throat over and over again, you drink water… but he is not leaving.
In many cases it happens in the morning: you wake up with a “sticky” throat, you try to cough and the mucus seems not to move.
Most people think it’s a chronic flu, lung problems, or just “age stuff.” However, what few know is that in more than 80% of cases excess phlegm has nothing to do with the lungs.
Phlegm is not the problem itself. It is an alarm signal from the body, a defensive response to internal aggression. The real question is: what is causing it?
What’s really going on in your throat
In the airways there are millions of tiny cilia, tiny structures that function like a conveyor belt. Their task is to move mucus and impurities outward.
Over the years, especially after the age of 60, these cilia become a little slower. That’s normal.
The problem occurs when mucus becomes too thick or when the body starts to overproduce it. In those cases, there is almost always an underlying inflammation. The body makes phlegm to protect the mucous membranes, not to bother you.
