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By Building Inspector and Indoor Air Specialist, Dan Schilling @ Copyright 2002 Residential Inspections LLC, All Rights Reserved
Nothing seems to be more "in your face" than having sinuses that don't allow air to flow through them freely. Approximately 33 million Americans suffer from sinus diseases every year. I wrote this article to help you understand why this is a problem for so many people today, and to offer a few simple techniques to keep your sinuses cleansed without artificially dilating them with chemical drugs.
The Wrong Solution
I do not believe I have ever heard of so many people having sinus problems before. Everyone is turning toward inhalers, sprays, and pills to try to open up their sinuses without asking why they have become clogged, often infected, in the first place. The first direction most people turn to for help is the medical community. What are our medical options? Pathetically, the choice is usually chemical drugs or sinus surgery!
I had a very close friend who had sinus
surgery. Even after being hit on a motorcycle, unable to work for
months due to surgeries, physical therapy, and infection complications,
he still told me that his sinus surgery was the most excruciating
pain he had ever experienced in his entire life. Furthermore, I
couldn't begin to tell you how many clients. I work with who have
become addicted to chemical inhalers, nasal sprays, and pills just
to keep their sinuses open. After studying the side effects and
addictive characteristics of these drugs, other than the fact that
they are reprehensibly "government approved," it amazes me that
so many people resort to their use. I guess if you can't breathe,
you'll do anything.
The Primary Causes of Sinus Problems
Before I explain a few simple
and harmless solutions, I want you to understand
what causes these epidemic levels of sinus complications. Basically,
there are three things that will keep your sinuses naturally clear;
they are heat, cold, and moisture. Heat has a very natural cleansing
affect on the sinuses. Whether working outdoors in the hot summer
or sitting in a sauna or steam room, the heat starts the sinus drainage
process which in turn clears out the particles that collect, irritate,
and clog sinuses. Similarly, working or playing outside in cold weather
has a draining and cleansing affect. Most of us can relate to these
effects of heat and cold. Swimming is also an activity that cleans
sinuses. Anyone who has ever gone swimming and inevitably gotten a
little water up into their sinuses understands how this rapidly cleans
your sinuses.
The problem is that we spend
almost all of our time indoors where we control the climate to make
sure it never gets too hot or too cold. We also rarely swim or otherwise
expose our sinuses to water. Indoors we not only lack the temperature
differences and moisture, but we inhale air loaded with enormous
amounts of indoor particle contaminants that clog and irritate our
sinuses. When our sinuses are not properly cleansed they become
clogged, and can also become seriously infected. This leads to the
vicious cycle of chemical drugs and/or surgery, followed by more
sinus problems later. This inconvenience and pain could have been
totally avoided had someone only explained what caused the sinus
problems instead of how to treat the symptoms. Of course, on the
economic side of this is the fact that no one in the medical community
can turn huge profits from people who do not get sick and become
dependent on chemical drugs or surgery. Therefore, self-help solutions
are seldom mentioned.
So what can you do?
How do we clean our sinuses if we
never get into the heat or cold, or go swimming? There are four simple things
you can do which should help tremendously to keep your sinuses clean and
guard against sinus infections.
Showering
When you take a shower, simply hold
two fingers together as if you were making a salute only put them under
your nose. Allow the water from the showerhead to land on your fingers
while you slowly inhale the moisture droplets as they bounce up off of
your fingers. Do this just before you get out of the shower. By the time
you dry off, the debris that was clogging your sinuses will be dissolved
and ready to blow into a tissue. Having not done this before, it may seem
a little awkward at first, but you will be amazed at how fast and easy it
is to do once you get used to it.
Spray Bottles
Sometimes you need to clean your
sinuses, but may not have time to get your moisture from a shower. The
simple solution is to have a standard spray bottle on hand filled with
clean water. These spray bottles have adjustable spray tips and are available
at most pharmacies and discount department stores. Simply hold one nostril
closed, tilt your head back, and spray a mist of water up the other nostril
while you slowly inhale. Two or three sprays up each nostril and within a
few minutes your sinuses will begin to drain clean and open up.
Nasal Irrigation Cups
The above methods work most of the
time and are great for sinus maintenance, but when sinuses get really blocked,
you might want to try a nasal irrigation cup. These are available at most
pharmacy for about $10-15.00. They look like a little tea pot and come with
packets of saline solution to be mixed in warm water. Instructions are included,
but basically you lean over a sink and slowly pour about half the water in one
nostril and let it flow out the other side; then reverse with the remainder
of the water. Again, in a matter of a few minutes, your sinuses will
drain and open up without the use of drugs. Doing this may sound a
little odd, but it works amazingly well. I had a friend who worked
as a painter in an auto body shop whom I showed this method to. Even
though he wore a face mask when painting, he was amazed to see that
all the colors of paint he had sprayed that day came out of his sinuses!
Paint and many other airborne particles absorb into your body through
your sinuses and can lead to other health problems. Furthermore, research
has proved that mold spores lodged in the sinuses was the leading
cause for all chronic sinus infections.
Drink Water
The cleansing and detoxifying actions of the body, such as waste elimination,
vomiting, spitting, sweating, runny eyes, and :yes, runny sinuses,
all require water from within our bodies in order to function properly.
If we do not drink enough water, we will suffer from it somehow. The
symptoms of chronic dehydration are subtle but many. Sinus, allergy,
and asthma symptoms can be reduced or eliminated by drinking six to
eight glasses of water each day. However, it must be noted that coffee,
cola, tea, and alcoholic beverages do not count as water because they
all contribute to dehydration.
When to Cleanse Your Sinuses
You should always be mindful of your
sinuses, not just when they are clogged. Whenever you expose yourself to a
significant amount of airborne particles, you should cleanse your sinuses.
Significant exposures would include things like sweeping the garage or basement
floors vacuuming the house with a poor quality vacuum cleaner, cutting wood or
any other material with a saw, spray painting, visiting a smoky bar or restaurant,
exposure to high levels of pollen or mold spores, etc. If you keep your sinuses
cleansed, you will not only be able to breathe better but you will
be able to smell things better than you have for a long time. Being
able to smell well is not only a blessing, but an important sense
for warning our bodies when we are breathing things that we should
not be inhaling.
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