When you’re in the throes of a bad cold or deep into allergy season, all of that mucus production can be massively irritating. But, believe it or not, mucus has an actual purpose — beyond simply driving you nuts.

All that goo is basically a giant moat of glue that’s protecting your nasal castle. Not only does mucus help keep nasal tissue moist and supple, but it also acts as a sticky barrier that can trap and disarm viruses and bacteria before they get too far into the body.

However, when your sinuses are inflamed, the normal flow of mucus gets backed up, which leads to that ‘plugged up’ feeling. So, how do you keep your sinuses clear without a pharmaceutical assist? Try these simple, healthy, and natural alternatives:

Keep Your Nose Clean

Dust, pollen, mold, fungi, pollution, cigarette smoke, and all matter of microscopic particles flying through the air can land in your nasal passages, irritating them and stimulating mucus production, blocking sinuses and leading to infection. While it’s virtually impossible to avoid all those irritants, you can keep them from gaining the upper hand by regularly rinsing the troublemakers away, every day or every other day.

There are several ways to go about it, so you can pick and choose the technique that’s most comfortable for you:

• The neti pot is an ancient Ayurvedic tool with which you pour a sterile water (never tap water!) and saline solution through your nasal passages, using gravity to help rinse out irritants. Click here for a tutorial.
• Squeeze bottles or syringe bulbs are another way to irrigate the nasal passages. Both mechanisms use a sterile water and saline solution, in effect ‘shooting’ the solution into nasal passages with a bit more pressure.
• Saline aerosol sprays are more convenient, if not quite as effective as the neti pot. The pre-mixed cans of sterile water and saline are good for frequent travelers who need to be able to irrigate anywhere, anytime.

Tune Up Your Gut

If you find yourself plagued by frequent sinus infections and seem to catch just about every cold that blows through your office, your immune system may be compromised. When immunity is weak, it’s easy for pathogens to march in, take up residence, and trigger a sinus infection (or some other illness).

So what’s your gut got to do with it? Well, it’s home to roughly 70 percent of your immune system, so making sure it’s in top form will likely cut down the number of colds, flu, and infections you’ll catch. The easiest way to supercharge your immune system is to rebuild and strengthen it with a healthy and diverse diet that’s full of immunity-boosting nutrients and probiotics. To really get your gut and immune system humming, I recommend starting the rebuilding process with a two-week elimination diet by removing all diary, alcohol and caffeine. It will purge allergens from the diet, get digestion back on track, and get gut function up to optimal levels.