Cleanse Your Sinuses in 20 Seconds by Applying Pressure to Your Face
Blocked sinuses are not fun, especially during a pandemic, when every seasonal runny nose or sinus headache leads to another round of “is this an allergy or COVID?” Techniques for dealing with sinus congestion often require a pill (or more), some of which have side effects that can act as a fairly powerful deterrent.
But there is a clever acupressure trick that can solve your problem in just 20 seconds. This came to us from an old Reddit thread from user gymfork :
Press your tongue to the top of your mouth, place your finger between your eyebrows and press down. Hold it for about 20 seconds and your sinuses will begin to drain.
When you press your tongue to the palate, do not aim for any particular point, but press it to the top. When you release, you should feel a slight movement in the back of your throat. This is a very simple trick that gets the job done.
Other Simple Techniques to Reduce Sinus Pressure
If that doesn’t work for you, you can try a few more methods suggested by SimplyHealth UK :
- The joint near the bridge of the nose and the eye socket is the area most prone to nasal congestion. Use your thumbs on the inside of each eyebrow in line with the side of your nose. Press for 30 seconds and release, repeat until pain relief is felt.
- If the above is not enough, place both middle fingers next to each of the nostrils and index fingers next to them. Press on both sides with your middle finger, hold for 30 seconds, then press down on your index fingers for 30 seconds. Repeat until you feel free flow of air in your nostrils.
If pressure on the face doesn’t work, SimplyHealth UK also notes that squeezing the membrane between the thumb and forefinger of the opposite hand for 30 seconds each can help relieve sinus pressure and tension headaches.
LPT: how to clear a stuffy nose | Reddit This post was originally published in September 2012 and was updated on June 14, 2021 by Joel Cunningham to provide more information and some additional protections, as well as change the title, add a new title image, and align the content with the current style of Lifehacker.