There’s nothing worse than a congested nose that makes you regret taking normal breathing for granted. Your hypothalamus, located in the brain, takes care of all of the automatic functions throughout your body. Thirst, hunger, sleep and wake cycles, emotion, memory, and breathing are all controlled by the hypothalamus. When it comes to breathing, however, choosing to breathe through your nose or your mouth is a conscious choice, at least while awake. What many people don’t understand is that the method that you choose can have profound effects on your health.
How you breathe matters
Breathing through your nose allows you to limit your air intake and slow down breath rate, which takes you back down into a parasympathetic state of rest and relaxation as opposed to an anxious state of fight or flight. This reduces your chances of hypertension and stress. However, if you are unable to breathe through the nose due to a blockage, your breath will remain shallow and fast through the mouth, activating the body’s stress response and lowering the quality of oxygen delivery throughout the body. This is because when you nasal breathe, the exhaled air is forced to slow down on departure, meaning that the lungs have more time to absorb oxygen from your last inhale before you begin to add even more to the body. This is a proper exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide that balances pH levels in the blood. When you breathe through the mouth, too much carbon dioxide is removed from the body too quickly and your ability to absorb oxygen is decreased.
Your mouth also leaves your body vulnerable to bacteria and dryness when it enters the lungs from the mouth. Nasal breathing ensures that the air is warmed, humidified and moistened, and infused with nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is extremely important to have in the body. It kills harmful germs and bacteria while helping to keep your airways, arteries, and capillaries dilated.
The bottom line is that if your nostrils are blocked, you’re in trouble, and you need to focus on decongesting as soon as possible so that your body can continue to operate as it was intended. So how do you clear a stuffy nose? Let’s explore some solutions.
Put a Humidifier in Your Bedroom
Wondering how to clear a stuffy nose while sleeping? If you want to calm your sinuses and get quick relief from a congested nose, try using a humidifier. The machine uses water and converts it to moisture that it puts back into the air, which boosts the overall humidity in the room. Breathing in this moisturized air is soothing to the tissues inside of your nose and any blood vessels that may be swollen in your sinuses and nose. Humidity in the air has also been shown to make the mucus that is congesting your sinuses thinner, empty any fluids present in your nose, and help to take your ability to breathe back to normal. Add one to your room and use it while you sleep at night to reduce common irritation and dryness in the air that aggravates your sinuses and cause congestion.
Try Pressure Points
Pressure points are another effective way to decongest a stuffy nose. By applying pressure to certain areas on the body, you can help to stimulate blood flow to that area. This can help to dilate the nose and sinuses, clearing out any fluids that are blocking them.
Try placing the tongue flat against the roof of your mouth while also pushing on the skin between your eyebrows with your pointer finger. Press against these areas for at least 20 seconds, and you should begin to feel sweet relief from congestion. Once you release the tongue and finger, you should feel fluid movement from the back of the throat and a lessened sense of pressure in the sinuses.
If this doesn’t work, focus on moving across the eyebrows. Place your fingers at the start of each brow, close to the center of the face. Lean forward and rest your head on those two fingers while your elbows rest on a flat surface, like a table. After several seconds (and once you feel the pressure begin to shift), move both of your fingers over to the middle of each of your eyebrows. Hold this pose until you feel pressure move again. Then, move the fingers to the ends of each of the eyebrows. You can also move the fingers in small circles rather than simply applying steady pressure.
Do A Buteyko Breathing Exercise
Breathing exercises are another option for encouraging stubborn fluid to clear out. More specifically, Buteyko breathing exercises, named after Soviet doctor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, help to open up nasal passageways by clearing out stopped up fluid. To begin, take a small breath in followed by a small breath out. Then, hold the nose closed with one hand and hold the breath. Nod your head up and down until you can’t hold the breath any longer. Let go of the nose and breathe through the nose without opening your mouth. Repeat the process after thirty seconds and walk through the steps up to five separate times. It looks a bit strange (so you may want to avoid doing this in public areas) but it is a quick fix to get fluid out of the nose so that air can get in.
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Avoid Nasal Congestion with Nose Breathing
Unless you are sick, the main cause of nasal congestion is mouth breathing. As mentioned before, mouth breathing is actuallyover breathingmeaning that you are expelling too much air with each breath. As a defense mechanism, your body releases mucous to try and slow the rate of breathing. However, this creates a vicious cycle of more mouth breathing, more mucous release and results in a stuffy nose.
Tape it Up To Continue Nasal Breathing
This is why, once you’ve decongested, it’s important to breathe through the nose as much as possible. When you’re focused on how to clear a stuffy nose while sleeping and keep it clear, mouth tape is a tool you need to add to your arsenal. Breathing through the mouth at night actually encourages the nasal passageways and sinuses to clog, resulting in morning congestion. Focus on your breathing throughout the day and keep the lips sealed to avoid mouth breathing. At night, pop a SomniFix Strip on to keep the nose open and clear, even while you sleep!
