Humming my way to clearer sinuses.
February 4, 2008 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Easy Health Tips, Happy Living Tip, Health, How To, Misc., Prevention, Treatment, Your Body
I am not a disciple of yoga but I’ve taken to humming ‘om’ at the strangest times – like now as I type this post.
Why ?
Because I read an article recently that said humming can help keep my sinuses healthy and clear.
As someone who suffers from allergic rhinitis (hay fever) that occassionally develops into sinusitis, I am always on the lookout for ways to stop the sneezing, the dripping, and the blocked nose. I’m tired of nasal sprays and medicine. I want to try something new. Hence the humming. And I sure hope you can’t hear me, cause it’s not a pleasant sound. There’s no tune or rhythm, just a loud humming noise which is vibrating through my nose. It’s these vibrations along with increased nitric oxide levels that apparently can help keep the sinuses healthy.
This effectiveness of humming on sinus health was studied by Swedish researchers a few years ago. Defining humming as “…exhaling with sound while the mouth is closed,” the study found that “…humming increased nitric oxide levels fifteen fold, compared to quiet exhalations without sound. The exhalations of people with healthy sinuses tend to have high nitric oxide levels, indicating that more air is able to flow between the sinuses and the nose…”
So now I’m humming…morning, noon, and night. And you know, I’m sure my sinuses are already clearer.
This sounds weird but, if true, kind of cool. Keep us posted on whether you see (feel) lasting benefits.
That is interesting – I’ll give it a try. A great sinus picker-upper is a neti pot – an Ayurvedic practice.. It looks like a small teapot. You fill it with lukewarm water and a small pinch of sea salt (iodized salt is too irritating, trust me on that). Then you lean over a sink so that one nostril is higher than the other. Put the spout in the higher nostril and slowly pour in the water. It will come out of the lower nostril. Then you switch nostrils and do the same. Neti is an amazing way to clean out the sinuses. I can breathe like I’ve never breathed before. Check it out.
A’Llyn, Well, I’m still humming and I’m sure my sinuses are clearer. Course it could just be ‘all in my head’ (ha! Ha!)
Grace, have done some reading on the neti pot…sounds interesting. Haven’t seen any in New Zealand but sure they are here. Will do some more research and of course, might even post on it.
Meanwhile, will keep on humming.
Well i have a cold and i did that its qite hard to hum actually wit a cold Haha. But it cleared them i bleww my nose and they reblocked
but there isnt any mucus. x
Hey Saffron, sorry to hear you have a cold….sure wish that the humming had solved your blocked nose. But at least you gave it a go…
Am thinking that maybe you have to hum an awful lot of a long period of time for it to work…yesterday my nose seemed clear – today not so much…but still, I keep on humming.
Saffron, Humming stopped clearing for you? You probably ran out of arginine. You need it to make more nitric oxide…a few nuts might restore it. If your cold is viral in nature, you want to aviod the nuts though…and go for the lysine.
rhonda, thanks for the tips…every little bit helps when you feeling low with a cold.
saffron, sure hope your colds getting better…