What are Some Home Remedies for a Stuffy Nose?

For immediate relief, walk faster and this will cause your nose to get unblocked.

I've never heard of sniffing an onion as a stuffy nose cure! I could never do this. Chopping an onion makes my eyes sting and tear up, so I know that holding one under my nose would be a big mistake.

Instead, I use steam for relief. I boil a pot of water on the stove with a few drops of peppermint extract and lean over it while holding a towel over everything. I breathe it in and enjoy the relief.

Also, at night, I use a humidifier on the warm setting. It creates steam that I can actually see shooting out of it, and I keep my bedroom door closed so that I can trap it all inside.

This steam lubricates my sinuses and seems to loosen everything up. I do blow my nose several times during the night, and without the humidifier's help, I wouldn't be able to blow out any mucus.

@orangey03 – I can get a little bit of stuffy nose relief from eating spicy foods, even when I have a cold. The relief is only temporary, but even an hour or two of being able to breathe a little through my nose is appreciated.

The spicier the food, the more intense the relief. I have some chipotle sauce that I put on chicken tenders, and it really opens up my nasal passages. For a snack, I will eat chips and salsa, and that is a good way to get some relief between meals.

One of the most annoying cold symptoms is a stuffy nose. It goes hand in hand with a runny nose, and even though this sounds strange, you can have both at once.

There is just so much mucus being produced that it can run out your nostrils and stop up your sinuses at the same time. I once stuffed a tissue up inside my nostrils during a cold because I was so tired of wiping my nose every few seconds, and within fifteen minutes, the whole tissue was saturated!

The sad thing is that when you have a cold, you pretty much have to just deal with the stuffy nose. No decongestant or antihistamine is going to do much I the way of relief, because the virus is working against it.

I suffer from a chronic stuffy nose because of my allergies. I take antihistamines every day, but they can only do so much.

I use a menthol rub under and inside my nostrils. This helps open my sinuses up at night so that I can sleep.

It's really powerful, and I've also used it for chest congestion. It will work better than anything else at easing congestion.

I have to say that Aleve D was the ONLY medicine to completely 'unstuff' me up. I was so thankful to God that I was finally able to breathe after trying ALL types of medicine. One pill was all it took to open my nasal passage. Thereafter, I only needed an vapor inhaler to keep my nasal passage running smoothly. I was getting desperate but thankful for Aleve D. Only one pill was all I needed.

Add 1/4 of a teaspoon of non-iodized salt to the warm water in a neti pot. I don't know how, but it works!

For a stuffy nose:

1/4 tsp Kosher salt in glass of warm water, squirt three times in each nostril. Can use as often as necessary, no harm done.

If you try a Neti Pot then you'd better be sure not to use plain water (as the article implies). Always use a saline-water mix. You can purchase pre-measured saline packets at Walmart or wherever you bought the neti pot or nasal rinse bottle. Plain water will burn your nostrils!

A saline solution can be an effective and inexpensive way to help with stuffy nose.