A few weeks ago I wrote about Harvard Medical School's advice on dealing with sinusitis, the medical name for a sinus infection. To my surprise, one item the august medical authorities were recommending for sinusitis was an ancient Indian technology, the neti pot.

Now we hear from yet another august authority: the New York Times. This time the topic is nasal allergies. The paper sorts through the evidence and arrives at the same conclusion: Washing out your nasal passages with salty water from a neti pot is medically helpful: it can help prevent spring pollen, hay fever, and other nasal allergies.

In my neck of the woods, tree pollen is in full flower, and grass pollen will be along before we know it. So this up-to-date advice praising a thousand year-old medical practice comes not a moment too soon.

Here's a video showing how to use a neti pot. It's not really as icky as you might imagine. Warning: the video ends with a pitch to order neti-related products. You don't really need them; ordinary non-iodized salt will do fine.