Who has not suffered the effects of a blocked nose when the cold approaches? Who hasn’t had painful coughing spells from the air conditioners? The cold is the most common disease we suffer from today. Anyone has suffered countless colds throughout their lives, and although they are generally not too serious, their symptoms can be very annoying.
Sore throat, runny nose, cough, sneezing, and even fever are the symptoms that we can observe around us, or in ourselves, every time winter approaches and even in summer, when the temperature change due to the use of air conditioners wreaks havoc.
If you are one of those who want to enjoy every day to the fullest and do not want to be prevented by a cold, we bring you the solution so that you can alleviate the symptoms of a cold. Next, at FastlyHeal, we will explain the best home remedies for colds.
Table of Contents
Honey
Without a doubt, honey is one of the home remedies par excellence when fighting colds. In addition to its nutritional contribution, this sweet nectar produced by bees has excellent antiseptic and bactericidal qualities. Consequently, honey can be a perfect ally against sore throats, pharyngitis, and tonsillitis. Another good thing is that you can mix it with other products, adding more benefits; below, we explain two good ways to take honey depending on the symptoms you have.
Honey with lemon
Honey with lemon is the most popular home remedy against colds, and the truth is that it is more than deserved; there is no stipulated way to take it and you can do it as you like; from FastlyHealwe recommend taking a teaspoon of honey together with the juice of half a lemon or, if you prefer, add the exact amounts in hot water to make an infusion. This drink, apart from the aforementioned antiseptic qualities, will relieve irritation and pain in the throat, clear your nose, and also, thanks to the vitamin C content of the lemon, it will be of great help to you to recover as soon as possible.
Honey with milk
If a cold manifests itself through symptoms such as sneezing, general discomfort, or headache, honey with milk can also be a perfect way to relieve them in a homemade and straightforward manner. However, it must be taken into account that milk and its derivatives increase mucus production, so if you have nasal congestion or phlegm, refrain from taking it and try lemon.
Eucalyptus
Indeed you have ever tasted a eucalyptus candy and have noticed how suddenly you breathed better and more freely. Eucalyptus is a magnificent natural decongestant, which is why it can serve as a remedy to clear the respiratory tract in the process of a cold. The most effective way to use it is through the vapors. Eucalyptus fumes are a very effective traditional remedy for decongesting and expectorating that consists of inspiring the steam from this plant to clean the mucus from the respiratory tract.
Its preparation is straightforward; you have to add a handful of eucalyptus plants to a pot or saucepan full of water, put the water to boil, turn off the heat and remove the pool when it reaches the boiling point. Place yourself in a comfortable place, with the pot on a table, and put a towel over your head to help channel the smoke towards your face; then breathe in and feel the benefits of eucalyptus.
Another way to take eucalyptus is through an infusion. Take three leaves and cook them in a glass and a half of water; after a couple of minutes on the fire, you can remove the leaves and drink the water as an infusion as rich as it is healthy. Repeating this operation two or three times a day for three days will clear your airways of all mucus.
It would help if you boiled the eucalyptus leaves every time you drank it; it is not helpful to do it once and store it in the refrigerator because the properties of the plant are not preserved, and it would lose its healing power.
Saline solution
There is nothing more annoying than mucus and a stuffy nose, that feeling of suffocation, that not being able to enjoy the taste of food. Luckily, a tremendously effective natural remedy will help you eliminate nasal congestion: saline solution.
Its preparation is straightforward, pour half a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of baking soda, and a full cup of water-packed into a pot. Put it to heat to mix the ingredients better, and fill a dropper or a spray bottle with the contents. When it cools down and is warm, you can use it and free your nose of the bothersome mucus.
There is another type of saline solution that is highly effective and that, luckily, we have in abundance. Seawater is a powerful decongestant; most saline solutions sold in pharmacies are prepared from saltwater.
Ginger
Ginger is one of the best and most complete home remedies. This product used for thousands of years in oriental medicine has anti-inflammatory, antitussive, expectorant, and antibiotic properties, so it is a perfect treatment for treating cold symptoms. An ideal way to take it is through infusions; a cup of ginger tea will help you control your cough and eliminate mucus, two of the most annoying symptoms of colds.
The elaboration of this natural medicine is very simple. You must put two cups of water to boil in a saucepan or pot; when it reaches the boiling point, add three tablespoons of grated ginger root and let it cook for three more minutes. Once the minutes have passed, turn off the heat and let the infusion rest for 10 minutes with the saucepan covered. Squeeze a lemon and pour three tablespoons of its juice into the infusion. Finally, you can sweeten it with honey to complete a magnificent natural remedy for all cold symptoms.
Chicken soup
Chicken soup is a classic among grandmothers to cure cold or flu symptoms, and if the grandmothers say so, it will be for a reason. The chicken broth warms the body and keeps the brats moist; its contribution of zinc and iron helps keep the body strong to fight the disease. To all this, we must add the anti-inflammatory properties of this concoction, which reduces the throat’s swelling by calming the cough and pain in that area; it is also delicious.
Although the result is excellent, this is not a complicated recipe. To cook a fantastic chicken broth that helps you fight a cold, you have to simmer an onion, a carrot, a little parsley, celery, leek, and the chicken for two hours. The amount of chicken will depend on how much soup you want. Generally, it is made with a kilo of chicken, and enough soup can be extracted for a couple of days.
Once you have boiled everything together for at least those two hours, extract the vegetables and chicken, and you will see how the water has absorbed the flavor and properties of all these foods. To finish the dish, if you want, you can boil noodles in that water or crush the vegetables and add them; if you do that and drink it hot, you will immediately see how comforting it is.
Hot liquids
With the home remedies that we have given you so far, you will have been able to verify that many have one thing in common: they are taken in a liquid state and also hot. This is not by chance because, in the cold process, it is essential to keep your body hydrated; in addition, hot liquids moisten the respiratory tract facilitating the expectoration of mucus and phlegm; in turn, when we drink a hot juice, we breathe the vapor that releases, achieving a similar effect.
Beyond all that, the heat they provide us is of great help and comfort in times of illness, especially constipation, when chills and unbalanced thermal sensations usually occur.
it
Because of its strong flavor and the breath it provokes, garlic has traditionally been a food not appreciated much by many people; for this reason, the vast majority do not know its benefits, which can be very useful to cure a cold quickly.
Garlic is a food very rich in vitamin C and zinc, two of the elements that help reduce the symptoms and effects of colds. In addition, we must not forget that garlic contains more than 20 antivirals, which can help us recover from the disease and help us prevent it.
The best way to take it is raw, either alone or with salads; however, many people do not like it because of its strong flavor or because it makes them feel bad. If that is your case, you can always take garlic capsules for sale in pharmacies and herbalists or take drops of fluid extract.
citrus fruits
Among the fruits that are part of the citrus family, the lemon, orange, mandarin, and grapefruit stand out. These fruits have great therapeutic qualities that benefit our health and the strength of the immune system. Apart from their role as protectors, their richness in vitamin C makes them very effective in fighting infections, such as those that cause sore throats, and in reducing healing times while relieving symptoms.
Their most significant advantage is that they have an antioxidant action that helps prevent a large number of diseases of the respiratory system, in addition to other essential elements for health such as magnesium, potassium, folic acid, and calcium.
Rest
Rest and bed rest is one of the first things your doctor prescribes when you show up at his office with a bad cold or flu; when we were little, and the first symptoms of the disease appeared, the first thing our mothers did was send us to bed, neither doctors nor mothers are wrong.
Scientists from the University of New York have studied it and have concluded that rest helps with recovery and relief from the symptoms of colds and other illnesses. The key is that when you are in bed resting, your body does not have to expend forces and therefore can devote much more energy to fight the disease.
When to go to the doctor?
As the cold is such a common condition, we may be suffering from another disease with similar symptoms, and we ignore it. To avoid that or other possible complications of the cold, we leave you some beneficial information to know when to go to the doctor in case of a cold.
- If the axillary fever is higher than 37.9º.
- You have a lot of difficulty breathing.
- Throat swelling makes swallowing difficult.
- If the symptoms persist with the same intensity after a week.
- If you have other symptoms such as belly pain or earache.
This article is merely informative, at FastlyHeal .com we do not have the power to prescribe medical treatments or make any type of diagnosis. We invite you to see a doctor in the case of presenting any type of condition or discomfort.
If you want to read more articles similar to Home remedies for colds , we recommend that you enter our Ear, Nose and Throat category .
I am a Surgeon with a diploma in comprehensive ultrasound and surgical care residency, an area I am specializing in. During the exercise of my profession, I have realized the need for patients to know the diseases they suffer, and I can tell you that a large part of their complications is due to a lack of information. Being a health web writer allows me to transmit my experience, without borders, to all those readers eager for knowledge, educate them in the prevention of diseases and promote a healthy lifestyle.