Keep your nose clean!

My Dad is a natural teacher.  I've learned much from him over the years, especially in the areas of medicine and health.  I think my Dad would consider this tip as one of his top 5 most important.  Seriously folks.  Keep your noses clean.  And not just because boogers are gross.

Well, maybe "clean" isn't the best word.  "Rinsed" fits the bill better, actually.  According to Dr. Dad, keeping things moving is the idea. As long as everything is moving, you've got a happy nose.  But when things get blocked, thick, plugged, etc., then you get an unhappy nose that can result in a sick child or grown-up.  We have seen in our family that, among other things, seasonal allergies in the fall are a major contributor to stuffy noses.  Stuffy noses, if left alone, commonly develop into a "cold".  So, you might ask, how does one go about rinsing out one's nose?  Easy.    

Some use a neti pot, waterpik, or squirt bottle to irrigate the sinus canals.  None of these methods are very expensive and we'd prefer to spend a little to keep from being ill rather than paying co-pays and pharmacies after we've already gotten sick.  We usually rinse our noses in a very warm shower and rinse with a saline spray.  We use an over-the-counter saline solution (which you can pick up at any grocery or drug store) to rinse our noses.  In fact, the boys rinse dutifully before bed when they brush their teeth.  For our infant, who sadly has a cough this week, we just squirt a little saline down one of his nostrils to keep the passages clear.

This is not to say we never struggle with colds, sinus infections, seasonal stuffiness or the like.  On the contrary, we do (especially our shopping-cart-licking-children).  We have found that this little trick will often help keep us healthy, stave off a cold when we feel doomed and even shorten the length of a sinus infection once it is going full tilt.  Since we're a family that makes a sincere effort to avoid the biannual amoxicillin prescription when we can, this little tip has helped us to that end.  Hope it helps you, too.

Stay healthy!

~ Katrina (& Christian, too)