There is an episode of The Dollup podcast about ninjas in 1800s (I think) Japan and in one part they talk about how the ninja would often have to wait around all day or more hiding to assassinate someone. They way they could tell how long they'd been waiting was by the change of the "dominant" nostril.

Apparently even when not stuffed up the air passes thru one nostril more easy than the other when you breathe. It switches about every 40 minutes.

Before you take everyone's word about the nasal cycle, check if you have dust mite allergies. Turns out I did and my nose was far stuffier and itchier than what should be normal.

I switched out my pillowcase to an allergy pillowcase and started taking some allergy meds. It cleared up my nose a lot and now I can actually feel one nostril only being slightly more closed due to the nasal cycle instead of having it almost all blocked.

Usually one of my nostrils be like

Your nostrils are never open at the same time.

They switch sides every so often, so one of them can catch a break and repair.

They aren't both open right now either, just try.

I think it's to prevent the nostrils from drying out. One nostril does most of the breathing, while the other one gets a break.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle

My recommendation is to drink lots of water throughout the day, homie. It can get pretty dry.

Neti pot those things. It's a little like self-waterboarding, but your sinus passages will thank you later.

I've always found doing pushups clears them up. No idea why. It just works.

You cycle through which nostril is dominant all day long, about every 30-50 minutes. This is to allow each side to return to body heat equilibrium and recover.

You pass 10-20k liters of generally colder than bodytemperature air through your nose in a day.

f.12

And one of them is whistling with every exhale.