A persistent cough with a blocked nose indicates congestion in your body due to excessive mucus production. However, mucus is important for your body as it nourishes the organs and hydrates the body, but its excess production indicates a sign of infection.

In this condition, you will have a runny nose, mucus buildup, sinus pain, and swollen nasal tissue. Let’s see why it is caused.

Causes

Common cold, sinus infection, and the flu cause runny nose. These infections make your throat, as well as the nasal cavity, inflamed, resulting in mucus accumulation. This type of condition usually lasts for a week or less than a few days. However, certain conditions impart long term congestions. Such conditions are allergies, hay fever, chemical exposures, noncancerous growths called nasal polyps, a long-lasting sinus infection, a deviated septum, environmental irritants, and pregnancy.

How to get rid of nasal congestion? How to get rid of chest congestion? These questions will linger your mind due to a certain discomfort. There are certain natural remedies and foods which can help in getting rid of this condition. Here we will discuss what foods will help you in decongesting your nose as well as the chest.

Foods to eat

Onions

Onions contain flavonoids that help in clearing off the mucus from your chest. It also prevents it from making any further progress. It also has anti-microbial properties, which help in getting rid of certain bacterial as well as viral infections. It relieves pain in your chest due to which are due to mucus blockage.

Apple Cider Vinegar

The anti-inflammatory properties of apple cider vinegar help in soothing inflammation caused due to infection. Along with that, they also help in getting rid of phlegm, which results in chest decongestion.

To consume it, mix one drop of it in a cup of warm water and gargle from it twice a day.

Chicken Soup

The cysteine present in chicken broth helps in getting rid of mucus. Certain infections are also caused due to dryness in your airways, which are due to cold weather. Consuming hot liquids helps in humidifying your air passage and reduce the chances of developing an infection.

Jalapeno Peppers

Jalapeno peppers belong to the family of hot peppers, which also helps in decongesting your air passage by breaking down the mucus. However, since it is acidic, you must consume them in milder amounts, as it can cause certain digestive disorders.

Lemon

The antioxidants and citric acid present in lemon help in fighting off the inflammation as well as keep you hydrated. It also helps in fighting certain bacterias that cause infection. If you consume lemon juice with honey, then you get added benefits such as relief from cough and reduction in thickness of your cough.

Peppermint

Peppermint herb has anti-inflammatory properties that help in getting rid of inflammation in your air passages. This leads to less mucus formation. It has organic compounds that impart cooling sensation with anesthetic properties. Along with all this, it also has anti-microbial properties that help in fighting off the infections.

Cayenne

Cayenne pepper also belongs to the spicy peppers family. It helps to break down the mucus that helps in decongestion.

Ginger

Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties that help in fighting sinusitis by soothing the inflammation. This automatically clears out mucus. It helps in draining out the sinus cavities and also decongests your air passages.

Green Tea

Drinking hot fluids tighten up your chest and throat when you are congested. So sipping up green tea will help in relaxing your congested air passages and your sinuses. It keeps your body hydrated and helps in washing off the mucus from the body.

Natural remedies

Apart from these foods, you can also use some natural remedies to get rid of congestion. Let’s look at them.

Humidifier

The common cause of respiratory infections is due to dried airway passage. Bacterias and viruses breed on dry grounds. Hence there is a need to moisturize the airways. You need to create a moist environment around you which can be achieved by the humidifiers.

Steam

Inhaling steam also helps in soothing your symptoms by moistening your airways. It helps in thinning your mucus. To inhale the steam, take a bowl of water and heat it to such extent such that it exerts steam. Now cover your head and bowl with the towel and breathe in the steam slowly. You can also inhale steam after taking a hot shower.

Warm compress

By doing warm compress, you can also decongest your nose by soothing the inflammation caused by the infection. To do warm compress, soak a clean and dry cloth in warm water and place it on your upper nose.

Apart from all these food and natural remedies, you need to avoid certain risk factors that can also cause congestion. Such risk factors are smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, diabetes, etc. Hence it is also essential that you need to adopt a healthy lifestyle for avoiding any future congestion discomforts as well as keeping yourself away from serious diseases.