Neti Pot Nasal Wash

When I was a teenager and into my young adult years I used to do a mild salt water wash of my sinuses. You'd cup a little water in your hand or in a small cup and sort of inhale it into one nostrul at a time. I remember as I would do the other one I'd have to stopper up the nostril I'd already loaded up otherwise it would all leak out. Once I'd loaded up both nostrils I'd bend over and hang my head down for a little bit. Presumably, this allowed the warm saline solution to wash into my sinuses. Then, for the really dramatic part I'd bring my head up and holding one of my nostrils shut would hose out the most disgusting crap out of my nose. Then, I'd switch sides and honk out the other one. It never failed to amaze me the stuff that came out of my nose.

It goes without saying that you'd have to clean the sink out afterward.

Anyway, breathing was great for many years and for some reason I stopped doing it. Can't quite remember why other than I might have felt I was getting addicted to this manner of cleaning or got tired of having a drippy nose for a few hours after every treatment. That, was the only downside that I can remember.

My sister recently extoled the virtues of her own Neti pot. I asked what the hell was a Neti pot and she began to tell me how she and my brother-in-law now regularly clean their nasal passages using this little gizmo. She said she met with a bit of resistance from my brother-in-law but was finally able to convince him to try it too. He told her that he hasn't felt this great in years. She said she's had a decrease in the frequency and severity of the sinus headaches she suffered from for years.

So, I bought one.

You should have heard DeeDude just now when I told him to come watch. I almost choked he was so funny. He said I should take a movie and put it on the blog. I think I'll pass on that one and instead just tell you how it went.

Luke warm water and a tiny bit of salt. Stir it up in the pot with your finger and pour. Breathe with mouth open and as you pour into the one nostril IT COMES OUT OF THE OTHER ONE! So, this is a slightly different procedure than the one I used when I was young. The advantage I can see right now is I'm not dripping all over the front of my shirt. The one thing I'm thinking, though, is that disgusting crud did not come out. So, it's cleaning my nostrils and not way up deep into my nasal passages.

And, it was funny to see DeeDude's reaction.

Exercising

I wasn’t watching the time this morning and didn’t get a move on fast enough to go to Curves before they closed. I missed yesterday and they’re not going to be open tomorrow. I didn’t want to break my routine up with a 3 day vacation. I did that last week and it took me awhile to get back into the swing of things.

My solution? I climbed onto our Lifecycle exercise bike. Last time I was on that sucker I just about died. This time I figured I’d just take it easy and work up to a nice buzz, then I could get off. Having the bike at home will be valuable as I get more and more into a fitter state of being. I’ll use it more.

It took me awhile to figure out the programming. Level 0 was too easy. So was 1. But, 2 was a nice resistance. I made about 5 or 6 minutes and must have gone close to 2 miles or so. Figure I must have burned up all of 25 calories, but it was a good first step. Maybe I can do it everyday in addition to Curves. Now, there’s an idea that holds a lot of appeal to me.

So, this is the new me: paying attention to my health and making more deliberate healthy sorts of choices.