Classic Hacks: Clear Your Sinuses In 20 Seconds

With the sudden onset of Autumn weather, cold and flu season is back for the year — which can bring painfully blocked sinuses. This tip has been one of our most popular since it was first posted in 2012, as it seems to work for a huge number of people, and it’s as simple as using your tongue and your thumb.

The acupressure based method is exceedingly simple, working as follows:

Push your tongue against the top of your mouth and place a finger between your eyebrows and apply pressure. Hold it for about 20 seconds and your sinuses will begin to drain.

According to commenters on the last story, however, it doesn’t work for everyone. For those with more stubbornly blocked sinuses there’s a second method which utilises Buteyko breathing techniques. You can see this technique demonstrated in the video below, but here are the instructions:

•Gently breathe in, then out.
•Hold your nose (and your breath)
•Nod your head up and down
•When you can’t hold your breath anymore, let go and breathe through your nose without opening your mouth
•Repeat after 30 seconds

It does look a little bit silly, so you might want to find a private corner if you do need to clear your sinuses, but commenters have said that this breathing technique works for them — albeit temporarily.

Lifehacker’s Classic Hacks is a regular segment where we dig up the most popular, useful and offbeat advice from our archives and update it for your modern lifestyle.


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