Printable sinus symptom diary template for seven days

Your seven-day sinus diary

Copy this table into a spreadsheet or use the full-size printable worksheet. Start on any date. Use a second sheet if you want to keep going into the following week.

A completed row might read: “7 Sep, worse than usual, left side more blocked, pressure around left cheek after lunch, smell unchanged, woke once overnight.” Use words you’d naturally say to someone else. In the blockage column, “left more than right” is often easier to record than trying to assign each side a number.

• full-size printable worksheet

Choose a baseline you can recognise

Clear means you noticed no symptoms you want to track at the check-in. My usual means the symptoms were about what you normally experience. If you’re often a little blocked, a typical blocked day belongs here. Better than usual and worse than usual describe a change from your own baseline. If you didn’t check, write not recorded.

Keep those labels consistent so you can compare entries later. If you feel clear at breakfast and blocked in the evening, keep the original check-in and add the evening change with an approximate time. That tells a different story from being blocked all day.

Add detail only where it earns its place

For pressure, write where you felt it and whether it came and went. For smell, choose normal for you, reduced, changed or unsure. If the day was affected, put down one example. “Stopped twice on a walk to blow my nose” is easier to remember and describe later than “bad day”. The NHS sinusitis guide explains why symptoms such as blockage, facial discomfort and changes in smell are worth mentioning in a clinical conversation.

Use the context space for details you can place in time, such as a cold starting that week or a later-than-usual bedtime. If you routinely use a spray or rinse, give it a separate log when you need more space. Record what you observed alongside the symptom, leaving the reason open.

If you prefer keeping notes on a phone, AirBloom is being built around short daily check-ins and a timeline of the symptoms, sleep and routines you choose to record. The printable version gives you the same starting habit with a pen and one row a day.

Source: NHS sinusitis guide

• AirBloom

Make the sheet work for you

Check in around the same time when you can. Use the optional nights worksheet if symptoms and broken sleep tend to occur together. For a day you missed, resist the urge to complete it from a rough impression at the end of the week. Add a later note only if you remember a specific detail, and mark it as recalled.

Before you copy the diary for another week, count the days you actually logged and circle one or two entries that show a change. If you’re preparing for a visit, turn those entries into a one-page summary. The daily record stays available if your clinician asks about a specific date.

• turn those entries into a one-page summary

What a partly completed week can show

Say you fill in four of seven rows. On Monday you marked “my usual”. On Tuesday and Thursday you marked “worse” and noted that your nose was more blocked on the left. On Sunday you marked “clear”. A fair summary would be “left side more blocked on two of four check-ins”. You have two dated examples to talk about and three days you can leave open.

If you’re tracking a flare, give the episode its own short note and refer back to the daily entries. Start with the first time you noticed the change. If you only know you felt better by Sunday, write “better by Sunday”. The diary can show the order in which you noticed things, even when a few dates are missing. The guide to keeping a sinus symptom diary has a worked flare timeline.

• guide to keeping a sinus symptom diary

How long should I track?

Seven days is a convenient page size. If that week misses the problem you want to describe, keep a second sheet if it helps. Use the NHS guidance on when to seek advice if symptoms persist or get worse while you’re tracking.

Source: NHS sinusitis guide

A sleep diary for recurring sinus symptoms

Add a nights worksheet to your sinus diary if you want to compare how your nose feels before bed, what you remember about the night and how you feel the next morning. Use one row per night and date it by the evening it began. A wearable’s sleep estimate can sit beside your own notes in a separate field.

The optional nights worksheet

On Wednesday, the wearable has an estimate but the writer made no symptom entries. On Thursday, the night itself is unknown, although there is a waking check-in. “No awakenings recalled” means that you don’t remember waking. Use “not recorded” if you skipped the question.

Write down what you can place in time

At bedtime, note the time and how blocked you feel. In the morning, note whether you remember waking, how your nose feels and anything that mattered overnight. “Woke with a dry mouth and drank water” gives more detail than “slept badly”. If you add a device estimate, put it in its own column so you can tell it apart from what you remember.

• AirBloom

Look for examples you can describe

Pick a night with a bedtime and waking note. Then find one that looks different. If you want to discuss the pattern, say what happened on each occasion and how many nights you recorded. For a fuller record of sleep times and daytime tiredness, use the NHLBI sleep diary. If morning blockage is your main concern, try the on-waking and after-getting-up check-in for more detail.

Source: NHLBI sleep diary

• on-waking and after-getting-up check-in

Use the editable sinus diary spreadsheet

Use one row for each planned check, keep labels consistent and distinguish unknown checks from blank rows. The editable spreadsheet provides separate blank and fictional-example tabs. It can organize observations but cannot interpret a symptom pattern clinically.

Source: AirBloom: Waitlist privacy notice

Start with the blank tab

Download the workbook and use the Diary tab for your own record. The Example tab contains fictional entries only. Save your own copy before editing and keep it in a location appropriate for personal health notes. Review sharing permissions if you use a cloud spreadsheet service.

The field order is date, status, nasal blockage, facial pressure, sense of smell, sleep observation and routine or daily impact. Add short observations in your own words. You do not need to complete every optional field to record a check.

Source: AirBloom: Waitlist privacy notice

Understand what the counts mean

Clear, better than usual, usual and worse than usual count as recorded checks. Unknown is counted separately. A blank or unmarked row is separate again. Clear means you recorded a clear observation at the check; it does not mean an entire unobserved day was symptom-free.

In the fictional example, week one has five recorded checks and two unknowns. Week two has six recorded checks and one unknown. Those different denominators belong in any comparison. A missed check must not be converted into a zero-symptom score.

Source: AAO-HNS: Clinical Practice Guideline, Adult Sinusitis Update (2025)

Choose a format for the task

Use the printable version when a short paper record is easier. Use the spreadsheet when editing rows and reviewing counts is useful. If importing the XLSX into another spreadsheet application, check that status lists and formulas behave as expected before relying on a summary.

The download is an Excel-format workbook, not a hosted Google Sheet. Use your own account’s import process if you prefer Sheets. Before sending a report, review its contents, remove fields you do not intend to share and use the recipient’s preferred method.

Source: AirBloom: Waitlist privacy notice