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Did you know that most people get about two to four colds per year? This can add up to a lot of missed work and misery. Symptoms of the common cold can range from a stuffy or runny nose, and itchy mildly sore throat, coughing, congestion, body aches, headache, sneezing, watery eyes, fatigue, and even a low-grade fever. Many people often claim to have the flu when they really just have a cold. However, if your fever becomes high, your body aches or your sore throat is more than mild, then do see a doctor.
Many people take a lot of strong drugs while they are ill to try to get rid of the cold. The truth is, the common cold has no cure. Putting a lot of drugs into your body to try to treat a common cold is usually a mistake because the danger of the drug really overrides the danger the cold is putting you in. Thankfully, there are tried and true natural ways to treat a common cold to help you get through your cold drug-free.
- Eat Hot Soup – Eating hot noodle soup can help combat a cold by helping your sinuses drain. The steam from the soup enters the nasal cavity and helps break up phlegm causing your sinuses to drain, thus relieving pressure and helping your head feel better. Plus, the soup provides calories and nutrition to help you stay strong as your body fights the cold.
- Drink Plenty of Juice – When you are sick it’s important to get plenty of vitamin C. The best way to get vitamin C is to drink fresh-squeezed juice. You can make orange juice easily with a hand juicer, or if you want to use more than one kind of juice consider a juicer like a Jack LaLanne's Juicer. You can juice anything to get more nutrients into your body while you’re sick without stressing your digestion.
- Leave It Alone – Some symptoms are actually good. They mean that your body is doing what it’s supposed to do to get rid of the virus. A low-grade fever actually means that your body is fighting the infection and you don’t want to do anything to stop it when it’s working. The only time you need to get a fever down is when it’s very high and has dangers of its own. But a normal fever should be left alone.
- Stop Sucking It Up – If you are sniffing a lot, try to stop sniffing the snot back up into your nose and lungs. Instead, when you feel like sniffing, use a tissue to blow it out of your body. Blow your nose gently, preferably one side of your nostril at a time. Don’t blow too hard, but blow gently enough to clear your sinus passages.
- Get a Neti Pot – This is a small, specially-shaped pot that enables you to clean your sinus passages with saline solution. If you are having issues with being able to clear your sinus passages by blowing gently, the neti pot will help a lot. Be sure to only use distilled water in your neti pot as using tap water can introduce serious problems.
- Get a Lot of Rest – When you are sick the best thing you can do is sleep and rest. Wrap up in a blanket and get comfortable on the sofa. Take the time to watch mindless TV shows and movies so that your brain rests and allows you to fall asleep. The more you can sleep, the faster you’re going to get better.
- Gargle with Salt Water – If you have sinus drainage or a sore throat, try gargling with saltwater. Just use warm water combined with regular table salt. Then use it to rinse your mouth and gargle. This will clear your throat of drainage which can cause you a lot of pain because it’s highly acidic and damaging to the delicate membranes in your mouth.
- Take a Hot Bath – This is a great time to relax in a hot, steamy bath. There are some things you can put in your bath water such as eucalyptus or menthol that you can inhale that will help clear your sinus passages and relax your body. You can also put in Epsom salts to help soothe sore muscles.
- Run a Humidifier – It can be a hot or cold mist (use cold mist only if children live in the residence) to help add moisture to the air to help relieve symptoms of cold and cough. Some humidifiers allow you to put menthol or eucalyptus oil in them to help your sinuses even more.
Using these natural cold remedies is the best way to treat a cold drug-free. Using drug-free ways to treat colds will actually work as well as, or better than, using drugs - without all the side effects that drugs can cause. Plus, many symptoms are necessary to help fight the bug, so stopping those symptoms can prolong your illness.