No one likes having a stuffy nose or the kind of pain that can only mean you’re sinuses are in bad shape, but it is a really common complaint at this time of year when your sinuses really do act as the first line of defense against various invading viruses and bacteria, leaving them vulnerable to infection.

If you want to avoid suffering from nasal troubles this winter, here are a few healthy sinus tips to get you started:

Practice Good Hygiene

Probably, the best thing you can do to maintain healthy sinuses is to be really careful about your hygiene. Wash your hands regularly, blow your nose with tissues and quickly dispose of them in a bin, cover your mouth when you are coughing and basically just do all of the things we have been told to do to avoid covid, This will help to significantly lower your chances of letting an infection make its way into your sinuses where it can cause so much pain and discomfort.

Keep Your Home Clean

Of course, keeping your home clean is also really important, Wipe down door handles, consider buying the best vacuum for allergies, which will help to remove many potential sources of infection from being breathed in by you and your family members, and regularly clean and disinfect surfaces to keep nasty bugs at bay.

Avoid Sudden Pressure Changes

If you already have a cold or your sinuses are feeling a bit congested, then it really is best to avoid sudden changes in pressure like those you do when flying, hiking in the mountains, or diving, because pressure changes are one of the most common causes of health issues relating to the sinuses.

Avoid Air Pollution

Air pollution such as cigarette smoke and emissions from car exhausts can really irritate the sinuses and prevent your mucociliary transport system from doing its job effectively, which means that any irritants you breathe in are more likely to actually affect you. Wearing a mask when you are in a highly polluted environment is a really good way to avoid this, as is switching to vaping from smoking if you usually smoke cigarettes, although avoiding cigarettes altogether would be even better, of course.

Use A Neti Pot

A neti pot is a small pot with a spout at the end. You fill it with a warm saline solution which you then pour into one nostril allowing it to come back out of the other. As it moves from one nostril to another, it will flush out various contaminants, including bacteria, that have gathered in your sinuses, so that you can hopefully avoid getting sick from them, It can be unpleasant at first but you will soon get used to it, and it makes such a big difference that you should definitely add it to your daily health regime. It’d especially useful in winter when colds and flu are more common.

Keep your sinuses healthy this winter and have a great time out there!