Patients with the symptom of constantly having to sniff their noses often have some degree of increased resistance to breathing ventilation, or have varying degrees of nasal congestion. The patient may also have some mucous secretions in the nasal passages, which may lead to repeated sniffing. This is more common in young children, and is often a subconscious attempt to improve respiratory ventilation and increase the flow of air, as well as to help remove inflammatory secretions from the nasal passages. The patient may have a cold or allergic disease that causes accumulation of inflammatory secretions in the nasal passages, and the mucous membranes of the turbinates may become congested, swollen, or edematous to a certain degree, which can lead to the development of this symptom.