Five Practices that Beat Nasal Congestion!

Do these five things to beat your nasal congestion:

1. Use NeilMed nasal rinse to clear out your sinuses. NeilMed's system consists of a plastic bottle and packets of saline solution. Empty a packet into the bottle, mix with distilled water, and flush your sinuses. It's simple and it works!

2. Use a mix of 50% NeilMed solution (from above) with a 50% Afrin solution once a day to clear your sinuses. Take the top off of your new Afrin bottle, then top it off with the NeilMed solution from step one above. After spraying each nostril once with this mix, immediately follow that with a spray of either Floanase, Nasonex, or Nasacort.
   These three medicines stop the "rebound" effect of Afrin. The rebound effect is the congestion that happens after Afrin wears off, making your congestion worse. Now you don't have to use Afrin every couple of hours. You are no longer a slave to Afrin!

3. Use Breathe Right nasal strips to keep your nasal passages open at night. Sometimes your nose will collapse when you lie on your side trying to sleep. There is an operation to fix this, but why not try something less invasive first? The strips keep your nasal passages from collapsing and help you sleep.

4. Use an air purifier when you sleep. More than 50 million Americans suffer from allergies to airborne particles, such as dust mites and pollen. Give yourself every advantage you can when trying to sleep; get an air purifier. At less than $50.00, it is a very worthwhile investment.

5. Avoid screen time before bed. I know, this is very hard to do. Screen time, whether from your phone or your TV, tricks your body's Circadian rhythms into believing that it is daylight and therefore time to get up. Keep your phone charging in another room while you sleep, and avoid watching TV or looking at your phone screen for two hours before bed.

Try these five practices for congestion, and give my book a try if you are on a CPAP and want to sleep without it!