Seven tips on how to clear your ears, plus advice to help keep them from clogging in the first place.
What is giving you the sensation your ears are clogged? Our ears are comprised of an outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear. The middle ear is connected to the throat via the Eustachian tube. This tube equalizes the air pressure between the middle ear and the outer ear. If the Eustachian tube doesn’t keep the air pressure equal, we have the perception that our ears are clogged.
Ear blockage can put a damper on your trip as you struggle to hear your tour guide, follow along in business meetings, or chat with friends at the hotel bar. Rather than wait for that stuffy feeling to go away on its own, you can speed up the process by using one of these methods to clear your Eustachian tubes and drain the fluid in your ears. These techniques can also come in handy if a cold or sinus infection has your ears blocked hours before a flight and you want to prevent the potentially painful experience of flying with clogged ears.
1. Valsalva ManeuverTo do the Valsalva Maneuver, close your mouth, pinch your nostrils together, and blow. This pushes air through your Eustachian tubes into your middle ear space, helping to regulate the pressure. Be careful not to blow too hard so you don’t damage your eardrums.
2. Toynbee ManeuverTo try the Toynbee Maneuver, pinch your nose and swallow a few sips of water. Swallowing pulls open the Eustachian tubes while the movement of the tongue, with the nose closed, compresses air, which passes through the tubes to the middle ear. This technique is said to be safer than the Valsalva maneuver because it’s less likely to cause lasting damage to the ears by forcing too much air out of the Eustachian tubes.
3. Lowry Method
Following the Lowry Method, you close your nostrils, blow, and swallow at the same time. The three maneuvers combined work to get push air from your Eustachian tubes into your middle ear space.
Note: You can close your nose without using your hand by activating your compressor naris muscles: that is, wrinkle your nose as though there were a bad smell.
4. Olive Oil or Hydrogen Peroxide
This technique serves to open up your Eustachian tubes by softening and removing earwax. Add lukewarm (inexpensive—you’re not cooking with it!) olive oil or hydrogen peroxide to an ear dropper and lie down with the affected ear facing up. Place three to five drops of liquid in your blocked ear and remain in that position for five to ten minutes. Next, switch sides with the affected ear facing down and wait for your ear to drain earwax and the excess oil or hydrogen peroxide (make sure to have a towel pressed against your ear while you do this). When you’re done, use a cotton ball or tissue to soak up any liquid at the entrance to your ear canal. You can employ this technique three times a day for up to seven days.
5. Warm Compress
Run a wash cloth under warm water, then wring it out. Place the cloth on your ear for five to ten minutes; the fluids in your ear should start to drain.
6. Steaming
Boil a pot of water and pour it to a large bowl. Create a tent with a towel by draping it over yourself and the bowl. Inhale the steam, which will help thin any mucus and/or earwax in your ear. Add a few drops of tea tree or lavender oil to the water to further reduce pain and inflammation. Keep breathing in until you feel your ear canals start to open up.
If your ear is clogged on your flight and you need quick pain relief, ask your flight attendant for a tea bag and two cups, one empty and one filled with hot water. Steep the tea bag in the cup of hot water, then transfer the tea to the empty cup, keeping the tea bag and a little bit of water in the first cup. Hold the first cup up to your ear; the tea bag will lock in the heat from the water and the steam from the tea bag will help relieve your ear pain.
7. Yawn
If none of the above work, try a simple yawn. When you yawn, it can open up your Eustachian tubes just enough to let some air through and thus equalize the pressure.
How to prevent clogged ears?
The best way to get rid of an ear blockage is to prevent it from happening in the first place. To that end, here are a few tricks to keeping your Eustachian tubes clear on your next flight.
- Take Sudafed or your preferred decongestant one hour before your flight to thin the mucus in your sinuses. (Of course, follow directions and consult a doctor if there’s any question as to whether or not you should take OTC drugs.)
- Open up your Eustachian tubes by using nasal spray before you board and forty-five minutes prior to landing.
- Wear earplugs to relieve air pressure mid-flight.
- Chew gum, yawn, and suck on hard candy during take off and landing.
Twist’s Take: Use these tips to alleviate and prevent clogged ears on your next flight.
