Do Air Purifiers Help with Sinus Issues? They Are The Perfect Antidote

When you buy this appliance to remove pollutants from your air, you will have many questions on your mind. One of them is: do air purifiers help nasal congestion?

This is a fair question because the pollen season is one of the reasons for buying air purifiers.

This is also the season when the flu kicks in, and there are many congested noses around.

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So, can an air purifier make you congested? It removes pollutants such as dust mites, mold spores, pet dander, pollen, and other irritants from the air. These pollutants cause nasal congestion and aggravate asthma symptoms. An air purifier helps you avoid congestion rather than cause it.

If you have a person in your family who experiences swollen sinuses and a stuffy nose every time the weather changes, you need to take them to a doctor. The doctor will identify the root of the problem.

However, you also need to use an appliance such as an air purifier to remove irritants that make life so uncomfortable for them.

Sinus congestion vs nasal congestion

Sinus congestion vs nasal congestion

In this article, we are going to mix certain terms, such as sinuses, sinusitis, stuffy nose, and nasal congestion.

So, is sinus congestion the same as nasal congestion? We had better get this question out of the way right now.

Nasal congestion means a stuffy or congested nose. Thus, anytime you see its reference, you should know that we mean a stuffy, blocked, or congested nose.

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On the other hand, sinuses, or sinusitis, is a congestion that occurs in the sinus cavities. Thus, while you will feel nasal congestion in the nose, sinus congestion is different because you will feel it in the neck, the sides,, and the front parts of your head.

When you have sinus congestion, you will experience pain between the eyes and in the upper jaw region.

Having a stuffy nose and a colored nasal discharge are signs of sinus congestion. It can also be accompanied by headaches.

Overall, if you experience a stuffy nose problem, if you cannot smell, and if you have a headache, these are signs of congestion of the nose, the sinuses, or both.

Inhaling pollutants can cause sinuses and nasal congestion. Another thing that might cause these symptoms is inhaling dry air.

Polluted air and nasal congestion: A nasty relationship!

Image of Do air purifiers help with air pollution

There is a direct relationship between polluted air and nasal congestion.

With this knowledge in mind, you can now see the importance of having an air purifier at home.

Once you remove contaminants from your indoor air, the sinus problem might go away for good.

If it does not, you will know you have a bigger underlying problem.

According to the CDC, 30 million adults are diagnosed with sinusitis every year in the USA. You can see it is a big problem.

Some people are more predisposed to getting congested sinuses than others. Exposure to a pollutant, such as smoke or dust can cause nasal congestion.

For some people, nasal congestion usually happens when they have a cold or something.

Open the windows for more airflow

how air purifier helps with nasal congestion

Even inhaling tobacco smoke can trigger nasal congestion. Thus, if you have a smoker in the house, it is best that they smoke outside.

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If they smoke inside the house, they should keep the windows open so that the tobacco smoke can dissipate before they come home.

Keep pollen out

During the pollen season, you need to keep the pollen-laden air outside. Close the curtains, doors and windows. The importance of this is to keep the pollen outside. Some will float in, you need to run an air purifier.

For some people, even VOC (volatile organic compounds) that are found in paints, adhesives, furniture, and new building materials can cause congestion. That is why you need to run an air purifier to remove formaldehyde from your indoor air.

Best air purifier for nasal congestion

Now that we know that air purifiers help with nasal congestion, what type should you buy? There are so many of them on the market.

Since you cannot buy all of them, you need to do a few things before you buy one. Here they are:

  1. Identify the most common pollutant that you have in the house. Of course, there are many, such as mold spores, dust, smoke, fumes, VOC, and others. Knowing what pollutants you have will help you determine what air purifier to buy.
  2. At the very least, buy an air purifier with a HEPA filter. While it does not do much for the smoke and dust, it helps capture up to 99.9 percent of most air pollutants.
  3. Make sure you buy a unit rated for the space that you want to use it in. If it is rated for 400 square feet, using it in a 650-square-foot space will affect its efficiency negatively.
  4. Getting a nose air purifier with HEPA filters is not enough. You need to clean the filters and change them as the need arises. If your air is highly polluted, you should change the filters more often.
  5. If you live in a dry place, you should run the humidifier and the air purifier at the same time or at different times. More moisture in the air helps with nasal congestion.

How an air purifier for sinus congestion works

How an air purifier for sinus congestion works

By now, we all agree that an air purifier for sinus congestion is a good investment. But we need to find out how it works.

Simply put, an air purifier removes impurities from the air. It does this by drawing in the air and then passing it over the filters.

The filters then capture the pollutants, and then the appliance releases the cleansed air back into the room. Thus, you inhale fresh and pollutant-free air.

When the air goes through different filtration processes, pollutants and allergens are trapped.

If you inhale air with these pollutants, they inflame your airways. They also inflame the nasal passages and the sinus membranes.

This is why you experience a feeling of stuffiness in your nose and a headache. If your air has smoke, fumes, formaldehyde, or any other pollutant, it is going to aggravate nasal congestion.

The most important thing is to make sure that the air purifier works all the time. Do regular checks; place your hand against the ventilation to feel whether it is pumping air outside, and so on.

The best air purifier for nasal congestion should be a unit that removes all types of pollutants, including chemicals and odors. It will cost you more, but it will be worth every dollar that you pay for it.

Air Purifier for Nose Congestion: FAQ

If you are still not sure how an air purifier for nose congestion can help you, you will find our section on frequently asked questions helpful. Here are some of the commonly asked questions:

Do air purifiers dry out the sinuses?

If the air in your home is dry, it is going to dry out the sinuses, whether you use an air purifier or not. However, when you run the purifier, it can prevent the inflammation of the sinus membrane because it will remove the pollutants that aggravate the condition.

Can air purifiers cause breathing problems?

If you use an ionizing air purifier, it is going to cause breathing problems. For instance, it causes shortness of breath, coughing, chest pains and throat irritation. However, purifiers that use HEPA filters do not cause breathing issues.

Do air purifiers help with shortness of breath?

Yes, running a unit can help with breathing problems. For instance, cleansing your indoor air and making it free of mold spores, dust, pet dander, fur, dust mites, and other allergens can prevent the inflammation of the sinus and nasal membranes. You will breathe easily.

Do air purifiers dry out your nose?

While these units do not particularly decrease or increase moisture in the air, they can cause faster irritation from inhaling dry air. To alleviate this problem of dry air in the house, you need to run a humidifier.

Can an air purifier cause a bloody nose?

No. However, when you use the purifier in a house that has too much dry air, you can experience nosebleeds. Remember that a purifier only cleanses the air, so it does not increase or decrease moisture. A purifier can’t cause a bloody nose.

Final Thoughts

A nose air purifier can help a lot with nasal congestion. Pollen, mold spores, dust, pet dander, fur, dust mites, and any other pollutant that floats in the air can trigger nasal and sinus congestion symptoms.

Perhaps you live in a place that has reasonably clean air. However, you still do need an air purifier if one of your family members experiences a stuffy nose at the drop of a coin.

Even if there are no regular pollutants in your indoor air, there could be VOC, formaldehyde, and others. So, everyone definitely needs an air purifier.