How to Get Rid of a Cold Naturally Fast
Drink plenty of warm fluids., Take steamy baths and showers., Consider oil pulling., Use a neti pot to irrigate your sinuses., Blow your nose correctly., Use a humidifier.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Drink plenty of warm fluids.
Drinking warm fluids helps to loosen the secretions in your sinuses so that your mucus flows more freely, making you feel better faster.
Studies show that drinking warm fluids relieves cold symptoms such as runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, and fatigue.Hot, non-caffeinated tea will do the trick.
Stick with a herbal tea like chamomile or peppermint to rehydrate yourself.
Adding some honey and lemon will soothe your throat and help the effects last a little longer.
Chamomile is good for reducing stress and fatigue, while peppermint relieves nasal congestion.
Japanese Benifuuki green tea may help reduce nasal congestion and allergic symptoms when drunk regularly.The traditional herbal tea “Throat Coat” has been shown to be much better at relieving sore throat pain than regular teas.Hot broth is also a good choice when you have a cold.
Drink vegetable or chicken broth in large quantities, but look for low-sodium broths to avoid consuming too much salt.
Chicken soup can help soothe a sore throat and loosen mucus to ease congestion.If you're a coffee lover, there's no need to avoid it.
Drinking coffee has been shown to increase alertness among those with colds.
Children should still avoid caffeine.Warm water, tea, and broth should be the main fluids you take in, as too much caffeine can dehydrate you.
Avoid alcohol.
It may make nasal congestion and swelling worse. -
Step 2: Take steamy baths and showers.
Steam moisturizes your nasal passages so they feel less irritated, and the relaxing effect will help ease your cold symptoms.Draw yourself a hot bath and soak, or start each day during the duration of your cold with a nice, hot shower so you benefit from plenty of steam.You may even find a mentholated “shower bomb” helpful to relieve congestion.
For a quick steam treatment, you can heat up a pot of water just shy of boiling.
When it starts producing quite a lot of steam, remove the pot from the heat and place it on a stable surface such as a table or countertop.
Lean your head over the pot, but don’t get too close to the steam or the water or you may get burned.
Cover your head with a light cotton towel.
Inhale the steam for 10 minutes.You can use this treatment two to four times per day.Adding a few drops of essential oil to the water is a good way to further decongest your sinuses and get the benefits of aromatherapy.Try peppermint oil to help relieve sinus headaches.Eucalyptus oil helps relieve nasal congestion.Do not use tea tree oil, as it is toxic when consumed., Oil pulling is an Ayurvedic remedy that uses oil to remove germs and bacteria from your mouth.
Most microorganisms adhere to the fat in oil, allowing you to spit them out along with the oil.
Use coconut oil.
Coconut oil has anti-bacterial properties and also contains lauric acid, an anti-microbial agent.Use organic, cold-pressed oil.
Sesame and sunflower oil will also work, but coconut oil has additional anti-microbial properties (and also tastes more pleasant).
Take a tablespoonful of oil and swish it in your mouth for at least one minute.
The longer you swish, the more bacteria you will remove.
Swirl the oil around your mouth, suck it through your teeth, and make sure to get it onto your gums too.
Don’t swallow the oil.
If you have trouble swishing the oil without swallowing, spit a little out.
After swishing the oil around, spit the oil into a trash can. (Spitting it into the sink could clog your pipes.) Rinse out your mouth with lukewarm water., A neti pot is designed to flush the mucus from your sinuses and relieve cold symptoms for several hours through a process called nasal irrigation.
A saline solution is poured into one nostril, and it carries mucus out the other.
Neti pots are available at most drug stores and health food shops.
Start with one irrigation a day while you have symptoms.
As you feel better, you can increase it to twice daily.
Make a saline solution or buy one from the store.
To make your own solution, combine ¼ tsp of kosher or pickling salt, ¼ tsp of baking soda, and eight ounces of warm distilled or boiled water.
It’s important to use distilled water, or water that’s been boiled and cooled, because tap water may contain parasites or amoebas.
Fill the neti pot with four ounces of the saline solution.
Stand over a sink or work in the shower or bathtub to prevent messes.
Tilt your head at about a 45-degree angle.Hold the spout of the neti pot to the upper nostril.
Tip the pot to pour the saline solution into one nostril and let it flow out the other.
Repeat with the other nostril. , While it's important to blow your nose while you have a cold to help keep your sinuses clear, don't blow too explosively.
The pressure from blowing hard can impact your ears, giving you an earache on top of your cold.Be sure to blow gently, and only as often as necessary.
Doctors recommend that you blow by holding a finger over one nostril and gently blowing the other into a tissue.
Wash your hands each time you blow your nose.
This will eliminate bacteria and viruses on your hands that could cause other infections (or spread infection to others). , If the air in your home is too dry, it can worse your cold symptoms and make them last longer.
Use a humidifier to keep the air moist, which will keep your nasal passages lubricated and make it easier to drain mucus.
Run a humidifier at night to help ease your breathing.
Make sure to regularly clean your humidifier.
Mold and mildew can grow easily in damp environments.
You can also release moisture into the air by boiling two cups of distilled water in a pot.
Use distilled water to avoid any trace impurities from further agitating your cold.
Houseplants act as natural humidifiers.
Their flowers, leaves, and stems release water vapor into the air.
They also clean the air of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.Good choices include aloe vera, bamboo palm, weeping fig, Chinese evergreen, and various species of philodendron and dracaena. -
Step 3: Consider oil pulling.
-
Step 4: Use a neti pot to irrigate your sinuses.
-
Step 5: Blow your nose correctly.
-
Step 6: Use a humidifier.
Detailed Guide
Drinking warm fluids helps to loosen the secretions in your sinuses so that your mucus flows more freely, making you feel better faster.
Studies show that drinking warm fluids relieves cold symptoms such as runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, and fatigue.Hot, non-caffeinated tea will do the trick.
Stick with a herbal tea like chamomile or peppermint to rehydrate yourself.
Adding some honey and lemon will soothe your throat and help the effects last a little longer.
Chamomile is good for reducing stress and fatigue, while peppermint relieves nasal congestion.
Japanese Benifuuki green tea may help reduce nasal congestion and allergic symptoms when drunk regularly.The traditional herbal tea “Throat Coat” has been shown to be much better at relieving sore throat pain than regular teas.Hot broth is also a good choice when you have a cold.
Drink vegetable or chicken broth in large quantities, but look for low-sodium broths to avoid consuming too much salt.
Chicken soup can help soothe a sore throat and loosen mucus to ease congestion.If you're a coffee lover, there's no need to avoid it.
Drinking coffee has been shown to increase alertness among those with colds.
Children should still avoid caffeine.Warm water, tea, and broth should be the main fluids you take in, as too much caffeine can dehydrate you.
Avoid alcohol.
It may make nasal congestion and swelling worse.
Steam moisturizes your nasal passages so they feel less irritated, and the relaxing effect will help ease your cold symptoms.Draw yourself a hot bath and soak, or start each day during the duration of your cold with a nice, hot shower so you benefit from plenty of steam.You may even find a mentholated “shower bomb” helpful to relieve congestion.
For a quick steam treatment, you can heat up a pot of water just shy of boiling.
When it starts producing quite a lot of steam, remove the pot from the heat and place it on a stable surface such as a table or countertop.
Lean your head over the pot, but don’t get too close to the steam or the water or you may get burned.
Cover your head with a light cotton towel.
Inhale the steam for 10 minutes.You can use this treatment two to four times per day.Adding a few drops of essential oil to the water is a good way to further decongest your sinuses and get the benefits of aromatherapy.Try peppermint oil to help relieve sinus headaches.Eucalyptus oil helps relieve nasal congestion.Do not use tea tree oil, as it is toxic when consumed., Oil pulling is an Ayurvedic remedy that uses oil to remove germs and bacteria from your mouth.
Most microorganisms adhere to the fat in oil, allowing you to spit them out along with the oil.
Use coconut oil.
Coconut oil has anti-bacterial properties and also contains lauric acid, an anti-microbial agent.Use organic, cold-pressed oil.
Sesame and sunflower oil will also work, but coconut oil has additional anti-microbial properties (and also tastes more pleasant).
Take a tablespoonful of oil and swish it in your mouth for at least one minute.
The longer you swish, the more bacteria you will remove.
Swirl the oil around your mouth, suck it through your teeth, and make sure to get it onto your gums too.
Don’t swallow the oil.
If you have trouble swishing the oil without swallowing, spit a little out.
After swishing the oil around, spit the oil into a trash can. (Spitting it into the sink could clog your pipes.) Rinse out your mouth with lukewarm water., A neti pot is designed to flush the mucus from your sinuses and relieve cold symptoms for several hours through a process called nasal irrigation.
A saline solution is poured into one nostril, and it carries mucus out the other.
Neti pots are available at most drug stores and health food shops.
Start with one irrigation a day while you have symptoms.
As you feel better, you can increase it to twice daily.
Make a saline solution or buy one from the store.
To make your own solution, combine ¼ tsp of kosher or pickling salt, ¼ tsp of baking soda, and eight ounces of warm distilled or boiled water.
It’s important to use distilled water, or water that’s been boiled and cooled, because tap water may contain parasites or amoebas.
Fill the neti pot with four ounces of the saline solution.
Stand over a sink or work in the shower or bathtub to prevent messes.
Tilt your head at about a 45-degree angle.Hold the spout of the neti pot to the upper nostril.
Tip the pot to pour the saline solution into one nostril and let it flow out the other.
Repeat with the other nostril. , While it's important to blow your nose while you have a cold to help keep your sinuses clear, don't blow too explosively.
The pressure from blowing hard can impact your ears, giving you an earache on top of your cold.Be sure to blow gently, and only as often as necessary.
Doctors recommend that you blow by holding a finger over one nostril and gently blowing the other into a tissue.
Wash your hands each time you blow your nose.
This will eliminate bacteria and viruses on your hands that could cause other infections (or spread infection to others). , If the air in your home is too dry, it can worse your cold symptoms and make them last longer.
Use a humidifier to keep the air moist, which will keep your nasal passages lubricated and make it easier to drain mucus.
Run a humidifier at night to help ease your breathing.
Make sure to regularly clean your humidifier.
Mold and mildew can grow easily in damp environments.
You can also release moisture into the air by boiling two cups of distilled water in a pot.
Use distilled water to avoid any trace impurities from further agitating your cold.
Houseplants act as natural humidifiers.
Their flowers, leaves, and stems release water vapor into the air.
They also clean the air of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.Good choices include aloe vera, bamboo palm, weeping fig, Chinese evergreen, and various species of philodendron and dracaena.
About the Author
Tyler Bishop
Specializes in breaking down complex practical skills topics into simple steps.
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