Cold remedies

Are cold symptoms making you feel miserable? Here are some cold remedies you can use straight away at home to help you feel better.

Cold remedy No.1: Drink plenty of fluids to help break up your congestion. Drinking water or juice will prevent dehydration and keep your throat moist. Include fluids such as water, sports drinks, herbal teas, fruit drinks or ginger ale. Your mother's chicken soup might help too! Avoid cola, coffee and other drinks with caffeine in them, as it acts like a cold and may dehydrate you.

Cold remedy No. 2: Inhale steam to ease your congestion and dripping nose. You can buy a humidifier, but the moisture from a hot shower with the door closed or a saline (salt water) nasal spray are just as useful for easing congestion.

Cold remedy No. 3: Blow your nose often, but do it properly. It's important to blow your nose regularly when you have a cold, rather than sniffling mucus back into your head. When you blow hard, though, the pressure can drive germ-carrying phlegm back into your ear passages, causing earache. The best way to blow your nose is to press a finger over one nostril while you blow gently to clear the other.

Cold remedy No. 4: Use saline nasal sprays or make your own salt water rinse to irrigate your nose. Salt-water rinsing helps to break up nasal congestion while also removing virus particles and bacteria from your nose. Here's a popular recipe:

Mix 1/3 teaspoon salt and 1/3 teaspoon baking soda in about 200ml of warm water. Fill a bulb syringe with this mixture (or use a Neti pot, which you can buy at a health food store). Lean your head over a basin and, using the bulb syringe, gently squirt the salt water into your nose. Hold one nostril closed by applying light finger pressure while squirting the salt mixture into the other nostril. Let it drain. Repeat two to three times and then treat the other nostril.

Cold remedy No. 5: Stay warm and rested. When you first come down with a cold or flu, this helps your body direct its energy towards fighting off the infection. This battle is taxing, so give your body a little help by lying down under a blanket to stay warm if necessary.

Cold remedy No. 6: Gargle with warm salt water. Gargling can moisten a sore or scratchy throat and bring temporary relief. Try a heaped teaspoon of salt dissolved in warm water four times daily. To reduce the tickle in your throat, try an astringent gargle, such as tea containing tannin, to tighten the membranes. Or use a thick, viscous gargle made with honey, raspberry leaves or lemon juice and hot water.