But too much mucus can be really unpleasant, and even lead to bacterial infections and potentially irreversible damage.
Excess mucus might be caused by long-term health conditions, including allergies, acid reflux, digestive or respiratory conditions or lung diseases like cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, chronic bronchitis, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
It may also occur due to acute sickness, infections, or inflammation, such as the common cold or flu and their associated symptoms. Smoking and vaping can also cause overproduction of mucus and phlegm.
If you’re looking for ways to clear your clogged throat or lungs, we’ve got you covered. Here are three easy ways to clear excessive mucus from your body.
1. Clear mucus with a specially designed Mucus Clearing Device
Mucus clearing devices might also be known to you as mucus clearance devices, airway clearance devices, respiratory devices, and Positive Expiratory Pressure (PEP) devices. There are also Oscillating Positive Expiratory Pressure (OPEP) devices that improve on standard PEP devices.
If you’ve never heard of them before, these devices offer a kind of respiratory therapy or PEP therapy that can help clear excess secretions of mucus and phlegm, reduce gas trapping, and improve lung ventilation and function.
How does a mucus clearing device work? When you exhale into the simple handheld device, your breath moves the steel ball bearing inside. In your body, this causes airway vibrations that loosen (or ‘flutter’) mucus, and a slight increase in pressure that helps your airways stay open longer.
These two things combined result in the mucus build-up moving up your airway until you can cough or spit it out. Better out than in!
Mucus clearing devices have additional uses in terms of strengthening chest walls, lung expansion and improving lung capacity, especially in combination with airway clearance techniques or breathing techniques.
2. Clear mucus with home remedies
There is a huge variety of home remedies people swear by that help alleviate excess mucus.
The most commonly cited home remedies include drinking tons of:
- warm fluids (warm water, broth, herbal or decaffeinated black and green teas)
- saltwater (half a teaspoon of salt dissolved in a cup of warm water)
- or honey (1 tablespoon every 3-4 hours, not suitable for infants under 12 months)
Another home remedy is moistening the air you breathe with humidifiers and steam vaporisers, or hot showers and baths You can also deliberately inhale steam from a warm cloth over your face, or a large bowl of hot water, with a towel over your head to contain the steam.
When it comes to products to use to loosen mucus and phlegm, use eucalyptus products, such as essential oils in diffusers or warm baths, or cough drops. Other good essential oils include basil, cinnamon bark, lemongrass, peppermint, rosemary, tea tree, thyme or oregano.
These can also be mixed with coconut oil (1 cup of coconut oil to 12 drops of essential oil) to make vapor rubs for chest application, avoiding broken or irritated skin. A saline nasal spray or rinse can also help to lift or lessen the effects of excess mucus or phlegm, especially in the sinus area.
While you might feel gross or self-conscious about it, it is best not to suppress the urge to cough or spit up mucus or phlegm. However, whether you are in public or private, be responsible about your coughing and spitting, for your own benefit as well as others’.
Cover your mouth with a disposable tissue, or your upper sleeve if you have no tissue, and dispose of or clean the contaminated products immediately. Wash your hands and any contaminated surfaces.
3. Clear mucus with behavioural changes
In order to help clear excess mucus and phlegm from your body, there are some behavioural changes you may need to make. This can include quitting or reducing the amount you smoke or vape, or removing yourself from secondhand smoke-filled environments.
You may also need to adjust your dietary intake to account for and avoid allergens, foods that cause acid reflux, or dehydrating fluids (like caffeine and alcohol) that may cause your body to produce more mucus.
Furthermore, to reduce phlegm and mucus, you should avoid decongestant medication. For mucus and phlegm reduction, it would be better to choose expectorant medication that can help thin mucus and phlegm, but does not have a decongestant (since it is dehydrating).
Decongestants are good for runny noses, but not mucus and phlegm reduction.
Finally, keep your head elevated when you are resting or sleeping. Elevation promotes the drainage of mucus.
There are many ways you can clear mucus and phlegm from your lungs and respiratory system. The best part of the easy ways we’ve listed above is that they can be used in combination, such as using a mucus clearing device alongside home remedies and behavioural changes.
This will hopefully speed up the process of reducing your excess mucus and get you back to feeling your best self!
What is Turboforte Lung Physio?
Turboforte is a medicinal treatment that is all-natural and does not require a prescription. Unlike decongestant medication, which use medicine to constrict blood vessels, thereby reducing inflammation and allowing for easier breathing.
Turboforte is much simpler, and you can feel it working.
Oscillating Positive Expiratory Pressure (OPEP) technology is used by our patented, FDA approved device to relieve congestion.
It’s as simple as you exhaling through the device, a metal ball bearing in the cap is forced to move up and down by the positive pressure of your breath, sending vibrations through your lips and down into your airways.
These vibrations paired with the positive pressure can loosen phlegm, clear airways and exercise your lungs.
Simply exhale through the device for a ten minute period, the vibrations will free phlegm and the pressure will encourage it to move upwards through your airways, so be prepared to cough up your now loosened chest congestion, leaving behind nothing but healthy lungs.
It’s recommended to check with your doctor if you have symptoms relating to poor lung health, shortness of breath, pain or a lasting cough before trying any new exercise.
