There are few things worse than being congested, especially when it’s in your head, in your nasal passages, working its way down into your throat and eventually draining into your chest and/or stomach, making you feel worse by the minute. You wish you could go to sleep but you can’t either because you are having to blow that runny nose every five minutes or because you are coughing a lot and it only gets worse when you lie down.
What’s worse than that? Well, we’re not even going to go there. It’s enough that you are stuffed up and can’t get unplugged. You wish you could fast forward five days into the future by which time you expect (or at least hope) you’d be feeling a fair amount better. It might help to know that staying hydrated by sipping water the whole time can help you thin out the nasal mucus and help you drain. That’s for starters.
For the purposes of this blog, we are going to focus on nasal congestion and what you can do to help prevent it in the first place, or least to minimize the discomforting conditions once you get hit by a bout of congestion.
What Causes Nasal Congestion?
Although excess mucus gets most of the blame for the nasal congestion, the culprit is actually inflamed blood vessels in the sinuses. Your mucus, which is produced by air-filled areas in your skull known as sinuses, exists to help capture bacteria and allergens. The problem comes when the sinuses get inflamed and then blocked because of infection, allergies or various other irritants. The companion symptoms can include impeded breathing, headaches and/or facial pain, as well as the relentless drainage that seeps both into your chest or out your nose, making life miserable one way or another. Even when your nose stops running, if you are still clogged inside your nostrils, not fun.
There are things you can do at home to help relieve such congestion. This usually entails using over-the-counter decongestants, although we suggest health aids that don’t produce side effects such as drowsiness (especially if you still plan to drive) or the jitters, which could be a symptom of decongestant-related, raised blood pressure which is particularly a concern for people who already have hypertension. So let’s steer away from those decongestants and look at some natural remedies – mostly supplements – that can be effective for alleviating sinus congestion and perhaps shortening the duration of symptoms.
5 Natural Remedies/Supplements for Counteracting Congestion
Bromelain. Thanks to its anti-inflammatory characteristics, this pineapple-derived enzyme can break down mucus and initiate sinus drainage to help diminish sinus inflammation and congestion. It is sometimes taken in tandem with quercetin (see below) for more robust effectiveness.
Ginger. If your stuffiness is linked to an allergy or allergies, such as during allergy season, ginger might be a good antidote. In fact, ginger has been shown by at least one study to be as effective an antihistamine as loratadine in reducing or ridding that stuffiness thanks to its combination of anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory properties.
Neti pot. This is a nasal-irrigation device to use to rinse out your congested nasal passages. It can break up thick mucus, expedite sinus drainage and expel those nasty irritants, allergens and germs.
Quercetin. This natural plant substance possesses anti-inflammatory and antioxidant attributes that make it a natural – as in natural remedy, right? – for aiding in cutting back on sinus inflammation, easing congestion, and bolstering the immune system.
Zinc. Say hello once again to one of our recently featured major essential minerals, in the form of zinc. It has often been said and widely believed that supplementing with zinc at the beginning of a cold might help tamp down its duration and severity. Chalk that up to zinc’s central role in turning the ignition on your body’s immune response.
The central message here is not to let that horrendous nasal congestion last any longer than it needs to if you were unable to derail it in the first place. With any of these natural remedies, be sure to discuss your use with your physician or, perhaps, an allergist, to be sure these are a good fit for you and vice versa. At least they shouldn’t raise your blood pressure, which makes most other branded decongestants taboo for many people.