Want relief from nasal or sinus congestion? Here’s something you may not have tried before: nasal saline irrigation, a therapy that flushes out the nasal passages using a saline solution. A very popular method for nasal saline irrigation is using the Neti pot, originally from the Ayurvedic medical tradition.
A Neti pot is a small, ceramic pot that can look like an Aladdin’s lamp or a teapot. Warm saline solution is placed into Neti pot. With your head tilted and over a sink or basin, you place the spout of the Neti pot into the upper nostril and let the saline solution flow in that nostril, through your sinus cavity, and out of the lower nostril into the sink or basin. The warm, saline solution does not burn in your nose as would plain water.
Flushing the nasal passages with the Neti pot thins mucus and helps flush it out. Cilia, or tiny hair-like structures inside the nasal and sinus cavities, wave back and forth, pushing mucus to the nose or to the back of the throat. Flushing with saline solution helps the cilia to more effectively remove allergens and other irritants from the sinus cavity.
I love my Neti pot and use it regularly! I make my own saline solution by adding 1 teaspoon of sea salt and ½ teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to 1 liter (~1 quart) of boiling water, then allowing it to cool. When I’m ready to use the saline solution in my Neti pot, I heat it up in the microwave oven until it’s warm to the touch.
To see a demonstration and what Oprah and Dr. Oz have to say about the Neti pot, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e22Ta7iRgks.
A Neti pot is a small, ceramic pot that can look like an Aladdin’s lamp or a teapot. Warm saline solution is placed into Neti pot. With your head tilted and over a sink or basin, you place the spout of the Neti pot into the upper nostril and let the saline solution flow in that nostril, through your sinus cavity, and out of the lower nostril into the sink or basin. The warm, saline solution does not burn in your nose as would plain water.
Flushing the nasal passages with the Neti pot thins mucus and helps flush it out. Cilia, or tiny hair-like structures inside the nasal and sinus cavities, wave back and forth, pushing mucus to the nose or to the back of the throat. Flushing with saline solution helps the cilia to more effectively remove allergens and other irritants from the sinus cavity.
I love my Neti pot and use it regularly! I make my own saline solution by adding 1 teaspoon of sea salt and ½ teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to 1 liter (~1 quart) of boiling water, then allowing it to cool. When I’m ready to use the saline solution in my Neti pot, I heat it up in the microwave oven until it’s warm to the touch.
To see a demonstration and what Oprah and Dr. Oz have to say about the Neti pot, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e22Ta7iRgks.
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