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9 natural ways to help increase your body’s defenses and ease cold and flu symptoms
When you’ve got a cold, your whole body can feel uncomfortable, and although you often can’t do much except treat the symptoms and wait it out, there are some extra steps you can take to improve your health and boost your immune system. Picking up cold medicine and following your doctor’s recommendations are essential, but there are also some natural ways to increase your body’s defenses and alleviate discomfort.
You can use home remedies as a supplemental way to boost your immunity and counteract your symptoms, but keep in mind that you should always check with a doctor before undergoing any treatment. With that said, here are some natural options to reduce the symptoms of the common cold and help get rid of it faster.
Hot water with lemon and honey
A cup of warm water with lemon and honey is good choice for alleviating a cold. It soothes irritation in your throat, reduces coughing, and relieves congestion in your noise, making it easier to breathe. It’s best to mix the honey with hot water and add the lemon juice just before drinking it so you don’t lose the fruit’s vitamin C. Drink it two or three times a day.
Ginger tea
A great way to fight flu’s uncomfortable symptoms is with a herbal ginger tea. This brew has analgesic, fever-reducing, and anti-bacterial qualities. It also clears mucus and reduces inflammation, which will certainly help to reduce the phlegm produced while suffering from a common cold. Steep peeled fresh ginger in hot water and sweeten it with honey. You can also add lemon juice for extra pep.
Echinacea
Echinacea is an excellent way to stimulate the immune system and increase the body's defenses. Herbal echinacea tea helps to alleviate one of the flu’s more uncomfortable symptoms—a fever—as it encourages your body to sweat. It can be made with the dry petals of echinacea flowers or you can buy it in tea bags from health food stores. One option is Traditional Medicinals Organic Echinacea Plus Tea ($13.98).
Garlic
Garlic is an excellent ally in the fight to strengthen your immune system against the flu virus as it contains allicin and alliin which are anti-microbial, analgesic, pulmonary antiseptics, and can clear mucus.
You can use it as a treatment for a cold in different ways. One of the easiest is to make a brew. To make a tea, crush three cloves of garlic and place in a tea strainer. Pour boiling water and let it steep for around 30 minutes. in very hot water. Wait until the water becomes tinted before drinking, and add crushed ginger or lemon and honey if you’d like, to taste.
Zinc supplements
According to the Mayo Clinic, several studies have shown that taking zinc tablets within 24 hours after cold symptoms start shortens the length of a cold. Of course, you should check with your doctor before starting to take this supplement.
Researchers at McMaster University near Toronto reviewed all the available studies on zinc treatment's effectiveness and safety for a cold and concluded that it significantly reduced the duration of symptoms, as it helps prevent the virus from multiplying.
A good option is Nature Made Zinc 30 mg ($6.29), which is to be taken with meals once a day to keep your body’s defenses up.
Nasal irrigation
Clearing out your nostrils efficiently during cold and flu takes much more than just a tissue, and mucus (ugh!) is one place the virus that causes flu tends to hide. You can irrigate your nasal passages with a mixture of 1 cup of warm sterilized water, ½ tsp of salt, and ½ tsp of baking soda. Squirt the saltwater wash into each nostril with an eyedropper or a needle-free syringe and then drain all the liquid by gently blowing your nose to help clear everything out.
There are also ready-for-use irrigation kits for adults and children with a pre-prepared mixture. The Neti-Pot-Sinus Nasal Irrigation and Wash Kit ($15.99) is an option that includes 30 saline wash packets. Once your nasal passages are more clear and soothed, you will enjoy taste once again and get a more restful sleep.
DIY mouthwash
An irritated throat is one of a cold’s most common symptoms. One way to alleviate this symptom is to gargle herbal teas made with antiseptic plants—thyme, oregano, ginger, and echinacea,for example—which have properties that soothe an irritated throat and fight bacteria and viruses. You can also gargle a half cup of warm water mixed with ½ teaspoon of baking soda.
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus has properties that clear mucus and can open up your airways again while also relieving an irritated throat. You can take advantage of it at home by mixing five drops of eucalyptus essential oil or 10 grams of diced eucalyptus leaves into a liter of boiling water, then breathing in the steam for several minutes. While breathing in the steam, it’s important to avoid letting in currents of air so cover your head with a towel. .
You can also buy inhalers that will help you to inhale the vapors directly without boiling water or using towels. Vicks Personal Sinus Inhaler, VIH200 ($41.93) is great for letting the steam directly into your nasal passages, sinuses, and throat to quickly relieve cold symptoms.
Organic fruits and vegetables
Lastly, you always need to maintain a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet, weekly exercise routine, and enough sleep and rest. All of this might be obvious, but modern life’s hectic routines contribute to our stress and anxiety—the disease of the 21st century.
A diet rich in organic foods, fruits, and vegetables is truly beneficial thanks to its vitamins and minerals. What’s best is to prioritize them and minimize your consumption of sugar, and refined and processed foods.
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