10 ways to help alleviate a cough or a cold
When you're battling a cough or cold, comfort and recovery are key. Here are 10 effective actions to help soothe symptoms and support your body’s healing process:
1. Consume Fermented Foods: Fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, and yogurt are rich in probiotics, which support gut health and may help strengthen your immune system. They are especially beneficial after a course of antibiotics, as they help restore healthy gut bacteria.
2. Take Saccharomyces Boulardii: This probiotic yeast can help rebalance gut flora after antibiotic use, preventing gut dysbiosis and enhancing immune function.
3. Eat Natural Anti-Inflammatory Foods: Incorporate foods like turmeric, ginger, garlic, and omega-3-rich fatty fish. These ingredients help reduce inflammation and can alleviate the discomfort of a sore throat or congestion.
4. Hydrate with Broth and Warm Liquids: Drinking warm liquids, such as herbal teas, soups, or broths, helps thin mucus, making it easier to expel. Bone broth is particularly soothing and provides nutrients that support immune function.
5. Steam Inhalation: Inhaling steam from a bowl of hot water or while taking a hot shower can help loosen mucus in the lungs and sinuses, relieving congestion and soothing the respiratory system.
6. Sauna: The heat from a sauna can help open up airways, promote circulation, raise the temperature in your body to inhospitable levels for the virus, and alleviate muscle aches often associated with colds.
7. Take a Walk: A gentle walk outdoors boosts circulation, helps clear nasal passages, and encourages the immune system to fight the infection more effectively. Fresh air also aids in reducing indoor congestion.
8. Flu fighter drink: In a saucepan, combine a whole sliced lemon, 100gm sliced ginger, stick of rosemary, teaspoon of cinnamon, teaspoon of turmeric, and a teaspoon of honey, poor in a cup of water and gently simmer for a few minutes. Strain the liquid gold into a mug and enjoy snuggled under a blanket.
9. Try Red Light Therapy: Red light therapy may reduce inflammation and can help with feelings of low mood associated with Seasonal Affective disorder (SAD), potentially speeding up recovery from a cold or cough.
10. Rest: Above all, adequate rest is essential for your body to recover. Sleep strengthens the immune system and helps reduce the severity and duration of cold symptoms.
While medications and supplements can help manage symptoms, ultimately they cannot stop a viral infection at its core. Viruses, unlike bacteria, don’t respond to antibiotics or antiviral drugs in most cases. The best way to overcome a viral infection is to give the body time and space to fight it off naturally. Rest is essential, as it allows the immune system to focus on clearing the virus.
Sleep, hydration, and proper nutrition all support immune function, providing the necessary energy for the body to mount an effective defense. Pushing through a viral illness with continued activity or stress can actually prolong recovery. Therefore, allowing your body the time it needs to heal is the most effective way to support recovery and eventually overcome the infection.
Emma Wightman