Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
Topics: News, Health, World News
Kit Roberts
Experts have shared a trick to help unblock a stuffed up nose as Christmas draws ever closer.
Christmas might well be right round the corner, but sadly in addition to festive cheer the winter season can also bring with it a raft of viruses and flus.
Even the most pungently seasoned pumpkin pies and mulled wine cant get through some blocked noses, leaving some people spending Christmas curled up under a blanket.
And this doesn't just apply if you've come down with a cold.
Advert
All of us at some point have experienced the peculiar scenario of one nostril being clearer than the highway on Christmas Day, while the other is so congested it's more akin to rush hour traffic in LA.
While these exercises won't cure your cold, they might help to provide you with some relief from that horrible stuffed up feeling on your sinuses.
So how does it work?
Doctor and YouTuber Dr. Alan Mandell, who uses the handle motivationaldoc, shared an exercise on social media to help get those airways clear.
The exercise relies on manipulating the cheekbone and pulling on the ears to help open up the tubes in our sinuses, which are pockets of air located in various places around our skull.
While we might think of our sinuses as just being our nose, they actually stretch under a larger portion of the face than you might expect.
This goes from above the eyebrows, the frontal sinus, then along the bridge of the nose and following the nose itself down, as well as two other chambers which are located under the cheekbones, called the maxillary sinuses.
If you get an infection in your sinuses they can become inflamed, which can cause pain and nasal congestion.
The technique to help open up the sinuses involves pressing on your cheekbone with one hand, while also pulling on your ear with the other in an effort to physically manipulate your sinuses.
Once you have the position, Dr Mandell said to hold it for around 10 seconds, demonstrating how to do it.
While it's not a complete cure, the exercise is intended as a way to provide some relief to symptoms if you're feeling blocked up.
If you have a severe case of cold or flu and your symptoms persist for more than seven days then the NHS recommends that you speak to your doctor.
This also applies for people who are immunocompromised, pregnant, or over 65.