Cold Comfort

10 natural ways to ease the common cold.


In the U.S., we face about 1 billion colds a year. That adds up to a lot of sleepless nights, sick days, chapped noses, crumpled tissues, and general misery.

Unfortunately, there's still very little you can do to fight the common cold. We have no way to attack the virus itself.

When we get a cold, all we can really do is make ourselves a little more comfortable. These tips won't cure the common cold. But they might make you or a loved one feel just a little better while you recover.

 

Cold Remedy 1: Have Some Soup or Tea

Chicken soup and tea are traditional common cold remedies that have some good sense behind them. Why?

"When you swallow a hot drink, some of the heat will get transferred from the esophagus to the windpipe," says Norman Edelman, MD, chief medical officer at the American Lung Association. "That heat can help loosen up the mucus and make it easier to cough out."

Since the heat is what matters, what you drink doesn't matter all that much. "Some people like chicken soup when they have a cold," he says. "My grandmother liked hot water with lemon, and some go with hot tea. But they probably all have the same effect."

 

Cold Remedy 2: Drink Fluids

"There's absolutely no evidence that anybody really needs to go through life drinking eight glasses of water a day," says Edelman. But when you're sick, he says, you should make a special effort to stay hydrated.

Why? Getting enough fluid will help keep the mucus thinner and less sticky. Edelman also points out that when you have cold symptoms, you're losing moisture -- every time you sneeze or blow your nose. Any kind of drink is OK, but limit caffeinated or alcoholic drinks, which may not hydrate you as well as other beverages.

 

Cold Remedy 3: Moisturize the Air

Since dry air is bad for cold symptoms, using a vaporizer or humidifier will probably make you a little more comfortable. Edelman suggests that you aim to keep the humidity in your house between 50% to 60%. Which is better, a steam vaporizer or a cool mist humidifier?

"Whichever one you choose, the moisture will be room temperature almost immediately," says Edelman. "So it doesn't make a difference." That said, since steam vaporizers can cause burns if mishandled, don't put one where a child could get at it.

Using a vaporizer or humidifier for cold symptoms does require some commitment on your part.

"You have to keep it clean and change the water regularly," Edelman says. "Mold and bacteria grow very readily in those things."

If you're not up to the grave responsibility of humidifier cleaning, you can also moisturize your nasal passages directly -- just use a saline spray. It will also help thin out the mucus.

Cold Remedy 4: Breathe in Some Steam

Sitting in the bathroom and running the shower can help. The warm moisture can get into the airways and loosen up mucus. Applying a warm compress over your nose and mouth might achieve the same effect.

 

Cold Remedy 5: Soothe Your Nose

With a bad cold often comes a miserable chapped nose. What can you do? First, make sure that you have some reasonably soft tissues, so you're not using anything too abrasive against your skin.

Second, dab some petroleum jelly on and under your nose. It will help both soothe irritated skin and prevent it from getting worse.

 

Cold Remedy 6: Gargle

If one of your cold symptoms is a sore throat, try gargling with salt water. A salt water gargle can help relieve your pain and that uncomfortable scratchy throat feeling -- for a little while at least.

 

Cold Remedy 7: Get Some Rest

A lot of people have trouble slowing down when they get sick. They feel self-indulgent if they opt out of work and spend the day lying on the couch watching movies while under a blanket. But really, it's what you ought to do.

"When you have a really bad cold that's causing a fever and making you feel really crummy, rest is really important," says Edelman. "It will help you heal."

With a more run-of-the-mill cold that causes minor cold symptoms, rest is less of a medical necessity, Edelman says. But you're still perfectly justified in taking it easy.

"In that case, the most important reason to stay home from work is to prevent you from spreading the cold to your co-workers," he says. "That's a nice thing to do."

 

Cold Remedy 8: Get Some Help

If you're usually the one running the household, now is the time to give yourself a break and call in some favors. Ask a friend to bring over dinner. See if your spouse can pack the kids' lunch boxes for a few days. When you're sick with cold symptoms, trying to do everything you normally do will just run you ragged -- and that could just prolong your illness.

 

Cold Remedy 9: Consider Medicine

Again, no medicine will speed your recovery from a cold. But some over-the-counter drugs, like decongestants, could ease your cold symptoms a bit and make you more comfortable, Edelman says. Painkillers like acetaminophen, aspirin, and ibuprofen can help with fever and body ache. Always follow the dosing instructions on the bottle.

Avoid taking medicines for symptoms you don’t have. Look at the label on the bottle to match your symptoms to the medicine that makes sense for you.

When your kids are suffering a cold, over-the-counter medicines can help relieve the symptoms. Remember to read and follow the labels carefully. Make sure to give your child no more than the recommended dose. And make sure not to use more than one cold and flu medicine with the same ingredient. If your child is under 4, do not use cold medicine. You should talk to your doctor to find out how best to relieve symptoms.

Cold Remedy 10: Ask Your Doctor About Supplements

Cold supplements are another option for adults, but the evidence that supplements like vitamin C, echinacea, or zinc is mixed at best, Edelman says. If you want to try one, talk to your doctor first -- and make sure it won't interact with any medicines that you take.

 

Cold Symptoms: Protecting Others

The best way to fight the common cold is to prevent it. When you're sick with cold symptoms, you need to think a little about the comfort of the people around you. That means protecting them from your germs.

When you have a cold, wash your hands regularly. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. If you've got young kids, piling used tissues on the floor by the living room couch isn't a good idea. If you do have to go to work -- or in public -- despite your cold symptoms, try to protect other people. Bring along some hand sanitizer and apply it regularly.

"Frankly, I think we'd all be a lot healthier if we just had a little more courtesy about cold prevention," Edelman tells WebMD.

As for you, it might be too late. You might already a sneezing, teary-eyed, headachy, drippy mess. The good news is that the common cold usually lasts just about a week. For the time being, the best you can do is collapse onto the couch, make yourself as comfortable as you can, and wait it out.

 

 

R. Morgan Griffin - WebMD