Does a Blocked Nose Lower Overnight Oxygen?

When your nose is blocked, you breathe through your mouth. You wake up with a dry throat and feel like you barely slept. With an overnight oximeter, you can check whether those nights look different in your numbers.

What did the studies find?

• In a sleep lab study of healthy sleepers, upper airway resistance was higher when people breathed through the mouth than through the nose.
• A small trial followed 24 snorers who also had rhinitis. It measured their overnight breathing while their congestion was being managed by the researchers.

Both were small. Neither tells you what a blocked nose does to your own nights.

How do you run the comparison?

You can't choose when you're congested, so this one works differently. You don't change anything. You tag what happened.

1. Each night at bedtime, rate your nose: "clear", "a bit blocked" or "blocked".
2. Keep recording through allergy season or a cold, and for a couple of weeks after.
3. Compare the blocked nights with the clear ones as averages.

A cold changes more than your nose. You may also have a fever, a cough and broken sleep, and any of those can move your numbers. Tag "cold" separately from "allergies" so you can tell them apart later.

Which numbers should you compare?

• ODI, the number of dips per hour.
• Your lowest reading of the night.
• Your overnight pulse. It often runs higher when you're ill.

What can you try in the bedroom?

These are general allergy housekeeping, not a promise about your numbers:

• Wash your bedding weekly in hot water.
• Keep pets out of the bedroom.
• Close the windows on high-pollen days.
• Use a saline spray or rinse in the evening, following the product instructions.

Tag the nights you did these. Then see whether anything changes in your own data.

A hot room can make a blocked nose feel worse, so note the room temperature too.

When should you talk to a doctor?

• If your nose is blocked most of the time, ask your doctor or pharmacist what's suitable for you. Don't start or stop any spray or tablet because of an oximeter reading.
• If you snore loudly, someone has heard you stop breathing or gasp, or you're exhausted during the day, see a doctor. An oximeter is not a sleep study.

How do you keep track of it all?

In PulseOxTracker you can tag each night by how blocked your nose was and see the average ODI for tagged nights next to the rest.

Not a medical device. Does not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition. Discuss results and changes with a clinician.

References

1. Fitzpatrick MF, McLean H, Urton AM, Tan A, O'Donnell D, Driver HS. Effect of nasal or oral breathing route on upper airway resistance during sleep. European Respiratory Journal. 2003;22:827-832. doi:10.1183/09031936.03.00047903
2. Kiely JL, Nolan P, McNicholas WT. Intranasal corticosteroid therapy for obstructive sleep apnoea in patients with co-existing rhinitis. Thorax. 2004;59:50-55. PubMed 14694248