The best sleeping position for sinus drainage problems and other sinus issues is to sleep with your head propped up. Sleeping with your head propped up will help gravity naturally drain your sinuses and reduce the chance of excessive blood flow that can develop sinus congestion.
Prop up your head.
“For congestion relief, sleep with your head elevated on a few pillows and maintain a position where your head is above your heart,” Govindaraj suggests.
If you're trying to determine what side to lie on for sinus drainage, you might notice that one side has easier airflow for longer than the other. There's a reason for this, too. “When you lie with one side down, the dependent (down side) fills with blood, while the up side will decongest or shrink,” Barnes adds.
Infections in your respiratory tract — most commonly colds — can inflame and thicken your sinus membranes and block mucus drainage. These infections can be caused by viruses or bacteria. Allergies such as hay fever. Inflammation that occurs with allergies can block your sinuses.
Acupresssure Point LI 20: Located at the base of your nose, this pressure point can help relieve sinus pressure. Acupresssure Point SI18: Located where your cheekbones meet your nose, this pressure point can relieve sinus congestion.
Determining how long your sinus infection will last is dependent on what type you are experiencing. Acute sinusitis lasts for less than four weeks. Chronic sinusitis can last for more than 12 weeks. The majority of sinus infection sufferers will see their symptoms start to resolve after about 10 days.
The frontal sinus has the most complex and variable drainage of any paranasal sinus.
Gravity is also involved in the sinuses draining when we lie down. This is one reason so many people notice post nasal drip when they're trying to go to sleep.
When you lie down, however, your body doesn't have to fight as hard to send blood to your head. Increased blood flow in the blood vessels of your sinuses can, in turn, cause sinus congestion, pressure, and pain.
As you lay down on your back or side, gravity helps your blood circulate easier to the head. An increased blood flow to the brain for eight or more hours at night can certainly lead to sinus congestion, and in some cases, sinus pain.
While sinusitis is never pleasant, its symptoms can be worse at night for several reasons. For starters, allergies tend to be worse at night in general. And then there's the fact that when you lie down, fluids no longer drain as they do when you're standing or sitting. This can result in increased discomfort.
Symptoms of Sinus Drainage
Some of these symptoms include: fever, headache, pressure in the ear, reduced sense of taste and smell, coughing, bad breath, and fatigue. Symptoms that are closely related to sinus drainage are most commonly thick drainage from the nose or down the throat.
Balloon sinuplasty allows the surgeon to dilate a blocked sinus, creating open space, which allows the sinus to drain normally. The surgeon uses a flexible endoscope with a light to guide the insertion of a thin wire. The wire is then moved through the nasal passages toward the opening of the blocked sinus.
a blocked nose. pain and tenderness around your cheeks, eyes or forehead. a sinus headache. a high temperature (fever) of 38C (100.4F) or more.
Blowing the nose can worsen the feeling of congestion due to pressure build-up within the nostrils, which may shoot up the mucus into the sinuses instead of ejection through the nose.
Patients frequently complain that they have one side of their nose that is always blocked. This is typically due to structural issues in the nose. The nasal septum is the divider between the right and left side of your nose. It is made of cartilage and bone and it may be deviated into one side of the nose.