Dealing with excess mucus

Mucus is a natural substance in every body. It serves various purposes around the body and in a healthy state is very useful.

For example, it helps block pollutant particles like dust and cigarette smoke entering our lungs and protects our lungs.  Mucus also adds a coating to our throat and is mixed with our saliva, making it easier for us to swallow food. In fact, mucus is present all the way through the digestion system, helping to move food along our digestive tract.  It’s also present in our reproductive system.

In a normal healthy state, the mucus in our bodies is clear in colour and thin in texture. Green mucus is an indication that you have an infection. If we have a cold or other infection, mucus becomes darker in colour – yellow or green – and is more viscous and thick. In this state, it also causes us more discomfort and we become more aware of its presence, as congested mucus restricts our airways, making it harder to breathe.

A chronic cough is often linked to a build-up of too much mucus. If you have congested mucus on your chest, you cough as a way of expelling the mucus. However, if you cough really hard, you can make the situation worse as the throat lining becomes irritated and the body actually secretes more mucus to soothe the tissues of the throat lining, but creating even more reason to cough.

To help shift the mucus without coughing too hard, you need to thin and loosen the congested mucus. There are different ways you can do this without medication. For example, drinking lots of fluids – hot and cold – will help thin the congested mucus. Warming the chest area by wrapping your chest with a hot, damp towel can also loosen mucus that is sitting on the chest and is difficult to cough up. Another way to do this is by having a session in a steam room or simply by breathing in steam over a bowl of hot water.

These home remedies should help ease the symptoms of congested mucus, but if you begin to feel particularly unwell or ever see blood in your mucus, then it’s best to seek medical advice straight away.