Is It Better To Spit Out Or Swallow Your Mucus When You're Sick?

Doctors weigh in on the best course of action for this particularly annoying symptom.

Being sick with a cold or other congestion-causing illness comes with a variety of symptoms, but a particularly annoying one is the buildup of mucus in your nasal passages and throat.

In addition to causing general discomfort, all the excess phlegm can make it difficult to talk and make you feel like you constantly need to swallow or spit. On the latter front, is one of those throat-clearing mechanisms better than the other?

Below, medical experts break it down.

First of all, what exactly is mucus?

“Mucus is a slippery, gel-like substance produced by mucous membranes in the body ― especially in the respiratory, digestive and urogenital tracts,” Dr. Heather Viola, an internal medicine doctor with the Mount Sinai Health System, told HuffPost. “It’s mostly water, but also contains proteins like mucins, antibodies, enzymes and salts.