When you have one blocked nostril, how come it switches to the side you sleep on yet it doesn’t drain out when you sit vertically/stand up or how come it doesn’t come out when you try to blow it out?
In: Biology
Not a qualified answer to your question, but try pressing your tounge really hard on your palate for a couple of seconds and then release. It gives a short term relief from a clogged nostril.
Nasal mucus and nasal congestion are too different things.
People commonly believe congestion is snot. It isn’t. Congestion is a swelling of the tissue in the nasal cavity.
This is why you can blow and blow and get nothing out.
If you flare your nostrils a few times, both nostrils will open up for a while. Since I learned this I’ve been doing it before sleep every night for comfort.
The blockage you’re feeling is mainly a result of inflammation of your nasal tissue due to a bacteria or virus. This would be why it seems you can’t “blow it out.” This inflammation reduces the amount of air that can pass through your nose, giving you a feeling of a nose filled with mucus.
When you’re sleeping on your side, all the blood in your body is impacted by gravity and more tends to settle on your lower half. This causes the side of your nose which is lower to have more blood than the other side, increasing inflammation and congestion.
Since I’ve learned this, I’ve always made an effort to sleep on my back when I feel nasal congestion and have noticed a significant improvement.
There is erectile tissue in your nose that causes it to swell inside the nasal cavities. One nostril is always more open than the other and it switches every few hours. If you’re like me there’s no mucus just one side shuts down at night but when you get up and walk around it goes away. Basically you have a nose boner.
It’s more a case of swollen weight than a blockage, like your stomach when you lay on your side “droops” towards the ground.
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