Clogged ears can be frustrating and even painful. But there are ways to relieve your ear pain and rebalance your ear pressure safely.
Pop your ears is a natural process that helps equalize pressure in your ears. This can happen when your eustachian tube is blocked or when air pressure changes.
1. Swallow
Popping your ears is a safe way to equalize the pressure between your middle ear and outer ear. This is helpful when you feel clogged or a difference in air pressure, such as while flying on an airplane, driving up or down a mountain, or even going down the tube of a scuba dive.
The eustachian tubes that connect your back of your nose to your middle ear regulate the air pressure in your ears. If the eustachian tubes are blocked, they can’t equalize the pressure inside your ears.
2. Chew
If you’ve ever driven a mountain road or been on a plane, you’re familiar with the sensation of air pressure changes. When these occur, a sudden clogged feeling in your ears is common.
This condition is called airplane ear or barotrauma, and it happens because sudden changes in air pressure affect the eustachian tubes, which regulate pressure.
3. Toynbee
Popping your ears can relieve a feeling of pressure or fullness in your ear. It’s a common issue, especially when you’re flying or climbing at altitude.
There are many ways to pop your ears safely, and they often require little more than moving some muscles in your mouth. However, if your symptoms get worse or if you think you may have an ear infection, see a doctor.
4. Hold Your Nose
If you’re feeling your ears clogged, it’s normal to want to pop them. Typically, air pressure changes around you cause your ears to feel plugged up.
Your body usually balances pressure between your middle ear and outer ear. However, sometimes this can’t happen, which leads to a clogged ear.
5. Mouth Breathing
Breathing helps your body get oxygen, release carbon dioxide and absorb waste. It also helps your lungs and throat function better with moist, warm air that’s closer to body temperature.
Sometimes, people breathe through their mouths instead of their noses. This practice is called mouth breathing and can have many health complications.
6. Mouth Swallowing
Swallowing is a complex process involving many muscles and nerves coordinated by the brain. We swallow about 2,000 to 3,000 times a day to get food and fluids into the stomach.
The first part of swallowing occurs in the mouth, where food is chewed into small pieces that mix with saliva. The tongue pushes the moistened food into the back of the throat (pharynx) and down the esophagus to the stomach.
7. Mouth Breathing With Your Nose Closed
Normally, air pressure in your ears is regulated by a structure called the Eustachian tube. This helps equalize air pressure in your ears and prevent ear infections, hearing loss, and other problems.
When this pressure is not regulated, your ears can feel full and clogged, and may seem to need to be popped. This is a common reaction to changes in air pressure, like climbing to a high altitude or driving up a mountain.
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8. Mouth Breathing With Your Nose Open
When you swallow, chew, or yawn, air enters the back of your nose and opens up your Eustachian tube. This helps equalize the pressure between the inside and outside of your ear.
If you are traveling, try chewing sugar-free gum to help open up your ears. This can also help with a clogged ear.
9. Mouth Breathing With Your Nose Closed
Whether you’re traveling or just living a regular life, your ears can become clogged from pressure changes. This may happen during a change in altitude (like flying on an airplane) or from head congestion caused by a cold.
These can cause a difference in pressure in the middle ear and the outside of the ear, which causes discomfort. Popping your ears relieves this imbalance by opening the Eustachian tubes and balancing the pressure.
10. Mouth Breathing With Your Nose Open
If you’re feeling a stuffy, clogged up feel in your ears, there are many ways to unplug them.
One of the easiest and most safest ways to do this is by mouth breathing with your nose open. This can help force air through your Eustachian tubes and into your middle ear.