10 Ways to Ease a Common Cold

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1. Take Vitamin-C!

You may have heard that vitamin C can help your body fight against a common cold. While this claim is often debated by scientists, many studies have found that vitamin C can lessen the severity and duration of a cold. Thus, while it hasn’t been fully proven to prevent (or successfully treat) the common cold, vitamin C has helped keep symptoms less severe, as well as shorten the duration of the sickness. That being said, don’t expect to be protected nor cured through vitamin C. But surely give it a try to help possibly ease your agitating experiences as well as shortening your suffering.

2. Gargle Warm Water

If your throat is sore, gargling warm water may help. Warm water is known to have a soothing effect. You may want to increase its effectiveness by adding salt. No salt? No problem. A tablespoon of lemon and honey could be added as an alternative. This will aid the throat with moisture and reduce pain.

3. Keep Yourself Hydrated

This may be said often, but you definitely need to keep water on hand. Hydrating does help! By maintaining proper liquid intake, dehydration is prevented, thus preventing further discomfort. In addition to this, avoid consuming anything that could dehydrate you. Alcohol and coffee, for example, should be left alone.

4. Double Up on Your Pillows

Sometimes you’ll end up tossing and turning throughout the night because of drainage. The best way to deal with this is to allow the drainage to, well, drain. To do this, add an extra pillow to the pillow already there in order to keep your head propped up. Let gravity do the rest, as it pulls the drainage down your sinus cavities.

5. Shower with Steam

Contrary to what you may feel, not all of your stuffiness is from drainage. Often inflamed blood vessels cause swelling in your nasal passages. Thus, attempting to blow your nose may make little difference. There is a way to fix things: use steam. Of course, the easiest way to get this is by taking a real warm shower.

6. Sleep

Sleep will always be an important factor for getting better. When one lacks sleep, they’re more susceptible to sickness. Meanwhile, on the flipside, sleep helps to directly fight sickness. While sick, it aids the body by boosting the ability of some of the immune cells to takedown intruders.

7. Chicken Soup

Chicken soup for colds may seem like a popular myth, but there’s actual truth to its benefits in bringing relief. Known to some families as “Jewish Penicillin”, chicken soup has anti-inflammatory effects. By halting movement of certain white blood cells that cause sore throat as well as cough, inflammation is prevented. Additionally, not only could it help ease pain, but the steam could help clear your sinuses. This happens when the heat increases blood flow through blood vessel dilation.

8. Avoid Smoking

Smoking can often cause further irritations on top of other cold symptoms already present. While sick, avoid smoking or being around smokers as best as you can… otherwise, it’ll just make things worse.

9. Over the Counter Medication and Fevers

Painkillers and fever reducers can quickly help relieve any annoyances. This does not include antibiotics though, as the cold is a virus and antibiotics should only be used for bacterial infections (when prescribed). However, you may want to use these as a last resort if you’ve only a low fever. Contrary to the popular idea that fevers are bad, they’re actually the body’s natural way of killing off infection. By turning up the heat, your body is able to make itself too hot for viruses to live. Additionally, fever also taps  the immune system to take more action against the infection present.

10. Dry Salt Therapy

Dry salt therapy, also known as halotherapy, has anti-inflammatory properties that can benefit those suffering from a cold. This helps to widen passages and ease breathing. In addition to this, research suggests that it may help with the treatment of viral infections, such as those dealing with the respiratory sickness, due to its ability to clear away excess mucus.  

If you would like to give salt therapy a try you can book your session at EPIC Services by calling 813-898-0601 or visiting epicservices.co/book.