Put the bowl down: Steaming water 'does NOT clear your sinuses'
LEANING over a bowl of steaming water does not clear your sinuses after all, new research says.
Leaning over a bowl of steaming water does not clear your sinuses after all, new research says
British scientists found that any benefits of steam inhalation are just an old wives’ tale.
Nearly 900 patients practised steam inhalation, saline nasal irrigation, both or had conventional GP care which often involves antibiotics.
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Professor Paul Little of the University of Southampton told the Canadian Medical Association Journal:
“The threat of global antibiotics resistance is very real and we need to find alternative ways of educating and treating people who do not need to have antibiotics.
British scientists found that any benefits of steam inhalation are just an old wives’ tale
“We have found that even a very brief intervention of a video showing patients how to use saline nasal irrigation can improve symptoms, help people feel they do not need to see the doctor to manage the problem and reduce the amount of over the counter medication given out.”
The study also suggested that further research is needed to understand how much coaching of patients to use both methods is required.
The threat of global antibiotics resistance is very real
Scientists need to find alternative ways of treating people who do not need to have antibiotitics
Professor Little added: “We found potentially important changes in other outcomes - particularly reduced headaches, reduced use of over the counter medication and reduced medicalisation, for example the belief in the need to see the doctor in future episodes.
“The evidence of reduced medicalisation is important in the longer term given most consultations result in an antibiotic prescription and the attendant dangers of antibiotic resistance.”