The 5 right steps to maintain a clean and healthy nose

The nose is the sense of smell that is part of the human respiratory system. If you have a problem with your nose, of course it will be difficult for you to breathe freely. In order to maintain the cleanliness and health of your nose, follow some of the ways to treat and clean your nose below that you can do at home.

How to care for and clean the nose to keep it healthy

Do you know how your nose works? Initially, air is inhaled by the nose and passes through special nerve cells to detect odors. These nerve cells are called olfactory.

Then, olfactory nerve cells convert smell into information and send it to the brain for translation. The brain will recognize the smell to be more specific, such as the scent of roses or the smell of trash.

Apart from detecting odors, the nose also filters oxygen to be sent throughout the body. The hair around the nose also clears the air of foreign particles. The clean air will move through the nasal passages, warmed and moisturized before entering the lungs.

In order for you to breathe freely and recognize any smell properly, nose health needs attention. Follow the ways to treat and clean the nose exactly below:

1. Avoid pollutants and substances that irritate the nose

Cigarette smoke, pollution and dust are enemies of your nose. These irritants reduce the effectiveness of the nose for filtering, warming, and moisturizing air. As a result, the sinuses will swell and clog and lead to worse allergy symptoms, and even the risk of developing sinusitis.

To reduce exposure to these substances, stop smoking. As much as possible to stay away from people who smoke and wear nose masks when going out.

2. Drink lots of water

Your nose produces mucus aka mucus to trap dirt from the inhaled air. Healthy nasal mucus is usually thin in texture, flows smoothly, and is not too large or small in quantity.

Well, one way to treat your nose is to keep your nose from producing normal mucus, by drinking water diligently.

Apart from plain water, you can also replace it with fruit juice or milk. Unfortunately, dairy products in some people can cause thickened mucus and are prone to causing congestion in the nasal passages, aka nasal congestion.

So, keep an eye on how much you drink milk per day. In addition, limit the habit of drinking alcohol because these drinks can thicken the mucus in the nose.

3. Reduce the habit of picking your nose

In caring for and maintaining the cleanliness of the nose, the habit or method of cleaning the nose that is not done is picking up the nose.

Nose nose can indeed clear the nose from clogged dirt. However, habits also make the nose prone to irritation. This is because the nose has many small blood vessels which are very fragile.

When your finger digs into the nasal discharge, your nails can hit the vessels. As a result, the blood vessels will burst and cause you to get a nosebleed.

Once the blood vessels burst, the healing process takes a long time. Especially if it causes the inside of the nose to be injured, it will take several weeks for it to heal completely.

It doesn't stop there. According to the Osborne Head and Neck Institute website, the habit of picking your nose can have an impact on the formation of sores in the septum or cartilage in the middle of the nose. This condition is called a septal perforation.

Picking your nose with dirty nails can also increase your risk of infection. This can cause an abscess (small, pus-filled lump) to form inside the nose.

4. Keep the air moist

Another way that is no less important in caring for the health of the nose is to keep it moist.

Dry air can trigger allergies and lead to nosebleeds. In addition, dry air also reduces the sharpness of the nose to trap dirt that enters with the air.

To keep the air moist, you can use humidifier in offices and bedrooms. Alternatively, you can also get enough moisture by taking a hot shower or bath so that your sinuses and nasal passages don't get too dry.

5. Diligently clean the nose

Compared to picking your nose, your nose will be healthier if you clean it using a saline spray. The method is quite easy, follow the steps such as:

• Get a saline spray and a sterile isotonic salt solution.
• Position your head slightly forward and tilt your head slightly to the right or left.
• Put saline water into the nostrils in the upper position with the head tilted. If the saline spray is applied to the left, then the head should tilt to the right, and vice versa.
• Then spray the saline solution into the nostrils slowly. Do not inhale it, but let the water escape up the other nostril.
• Remove the remaining water like blowing your nose, but not too tight. Spray alternately.

Well, there are ways to treat your nose that you can do starting from now on. By maintaining nasal hygiene, you also help maintain a healthy body and avoid various threatening nasal disorders.