With cold and flu season quickly approaching it is time to start to think about how you can combat a cold. Sometimes going to the doctor or taking medicine might feel like overkill and you want fixes that you can do at home. WebMD has these tips for you on how to fight your cold at home.
Tips for Your Sinuses
While you are battling your cold, you should blow your nose often instead of sniffling and causing mucus to go back into your head. While you should blow your nose often, did you know that there is a right way to blow your nose? You should press a finger over one nostril while you blow the other, and remember to wash your hands afterward.
Take a hot shower to help moisten and relax your nasal cavities. Similarly, use hot or cold packs to help your sinuses. You can buy them or make them at home.
Tips for Rest
When you have a cold or the flu, your body needs extra rest to help fight the sickness. While rest can be sleeping, sometimes you just need to lay down under a blanket and allow your body to rest that way.
Sleep with an extra pillow to help drain your nasal passages. If having two pillows is awkward to sleep on, try placing an extra one between the box spring and mattress for a gradual effect.
Tips for Your Throat
A sore throat accompanies colds and the flu. To help relieve the pain and moisten your throat try to garage a teaspoon of salt dissolved in warm water four times a day. You could also gargle a tea that has tannin, or a mixture that you have steeped one tablespoon of lemon juice with two cups of hot water and a teaspoon of honey. Remember to not give honey to children that are under the age of one.
Drinking hot liquids will help your throat as well. Some teas, like chamomile, help soothe the inflamed membranes of your throat and nostrils. You could also add honey to the tea. Warm liquids help prevent dehydration as well.
You could also try a Lozenge to help soothe your throat. Look for ones that contain Echinacea or elderberry extract, zinc, and Vitamin C. Aloe and mint extract is common as well. Some also contain low doses of aspirin, which help reduce pain and inflammation in your throat.
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Only Fly When Necessary
The change in air pressure adds more stress to an already stressed-out respiratory system. If you must fly, keep nasal spray to use before and after take-off and landing, and chew gum as well to help.