These home remedies, traditional and used since ages, are now scientifically proven to cure and prevent colds like cough, sneezing, and nasal discharge. Though these are not a complete treatment, they will give some sort of relief to the common cold patients.
Drink plenty of fluids
Fluids may help thin the mucus, thus keeping it flowing freely and making it easier for the body to expel. Water and other liquids also combat dehydration. So drink at least one glass of fluid every two hours to stay hydrated. Drinking hot water early in the morning will help you flush out the toxins (poison produced by living organism) of cough and cold and helps to get rid of cough and cold.
Go for gargles
Hot water gargle helps to get quick relief from cough and cold. Hot water gargles with a pinch of salt helps to kill bacteria and will give quick relief from cough and cold. Salt is an astringent and helps relieve a painful throat.
Sleep plenty
Getting fewer than seven hours of sleep a night raises your risk of catching a cold threefold, as compared to people who sleep average eight hours a night.
Take warm shower
Steamy showers (or your head over a steamy bowl of soup) and saline nasal sprays can help relief congestion, at least temporarily, by hydrating and moisturising irritated nasal passages.
Nasal irrigation
Research has shown that washing away nasal secretions can reduce swelling. You can make your own saline drops or spray by adding one-fourth teaspoon salt to one cup water. Fill a clean nasal-spray bottle or dropper with the salt water and spray or drop into each nostril three or four times. Repeat five to six times daily.
Choose chicken soup
It is scientifically proved; chicken soup does help in cold. Chicken soup contains cysteines, which are good at thinning mucus. Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical
Center discovered that chicken soup has anti-inflammatory actions which helps to reduce pain and congestion of nose.
Honey works honestly
Take a spoonful of honey each day or can take it with a cup of warm water. Honey will act as syrup for curing cough and cold. It will give you best results as compared to any other cough and cold syrup. You can have honey with milk as well to cure cough and cold.
Tea for terrific result
A cup of hot tea with honey does the same trick as chicken soup; it loosens up your nasal passages and makes that stuffy nose feel better. Folk healers have known this secret for centuries.
They often suggest drinking tea with spices and herbs that contain aromatic oils with antiviral properties. Try tea with ginger, mint and lemon. Lemon grass tea is one of the effective home remedies for cough and cold. Just take few twigs of lemon grass and boil it with water. You can add a pinch of sugar to this tea.
Chillis hurt but ...
Hot and spicy foods are notorious for making your nose run and your eyes water. The hot stuff in peppers is called capsaicin and is pharmacologically similar to guaifenesin, an expectorant ingredient found in some cough syrups. This similarity leads some experts to believe that eating hot foods can clear up mucus and ease that stuffy nose.
Turn on Inhalation
The steam from a vaporiser can loosen mucus, especially if the mucus has become thick. It may make you feel more comfortable and will keep the nasal tissues moist. That’s helpful because dry nasal membranes provide poor protection against viral invasion.
