Natural Cold Cures - Part 2 - Health Plus Digest

Drinking hot liquids also helps to both prevent a cold by killing the viruses, relieve nasal congestion, can help prevent dehydration and often soothes uncomfortably inflamed membranes in your nose and throat when you already have a cold. A steamy shower can also help to improve the hydration of the nasal membranes while helping you to relax.

Stay away from sugar and dairy products when you’re sick. Sugar suppresses the immune system and dairy products will thicken mucous membranes and make it more difficult for you to remove nasal congestion or cough up chest congestion. (5)

Using hot tea to help relieve symptoms is another way of helping your body to overcome the virus and feel better quickly. Combining grated ginger root with lemon and honey makes a refreshing tea that helps your throat feel better and relieve symptoms. You might try a few cloves of crushed garlic which has antiviral and antibacterial properties or cayenne powder to taste which can help to cut through the mucus or break up a low fever.

Zinc lozenges are also readily available, found in health food stores and online, and help to reduce the duration of cold symptoms especially when they are taken within 24 hours after you first experience the cold symptoms. They work by blocking the replication of the virus in preventing it from spreading around your body. (6,7)

Sleeping with an extra pillow under your head can help to drain the nasal passages and keep them from getting impacted during the night time. If the angle is too awkward for you then add height underneath the mattress, between the mattress and box spring, to provide a more gradual slope to the bed. The idea is to keep your head a bit more elevated in order to encourage the drainage of your nasal sinuses at night.

Remember to keep yourself from becoming dehydrated, get plenty of rest and gargle several times a day with salt water. Using these simple remedies you’ll be over your cold before you know it!

Resources:

(1) MayoClinic.com: Common Cold

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/common-cold/ds00056/dsection=symptoms

(2) Archives of Family Medicine: A Clinical Trial of Hypertonic Saline Nasal Spray in Subjects with the Common Cold or Rhinosinusitis

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9443697

(3) University of Maryland Medical Center: Sinus Headache

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/sinus-headache-000073.htm

(4) American Association of Retired Person: Mom Was Right- Gargling Helps

http://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-10-2010/gargling_does_help.html

(5) MayoClinic.com: I’ve heard that you shouldn’t drink milk when you have a cold because it increases phlegm. Is this true?

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/phlegm/AN01455

(6) University of Helsinki: Zinc Lozenges May Shorten Common Cold Duration