I’ll always remember the day I discovered the Neti pot. The year was 2012. It was a sunny, blustery, allergen-loaded afternoon in late September. My girlfriend, miserably congested, pulled a small plastic kettle out of the back of the closet, filled it with salt water, tipped her head forward, and stuck the spout up her nose. I watched, aghast, as a stream of saline poured from her other nostril.
She referred to it, wonderfully, as a nose douche. I kept my jokes to myself. She explained how the Neti pot flushes mucus from the nasal cavity, giving her some temporary reprieve from her chronic, sore sniffling. I laughed off an offer to try it for myself — until I got socked with a head cold the following week. Guess who took up the pot? Since then, I’ve become a warrior against the seasonal cold, obsessed with finding ways not just to tamp down symptoms, but to shorten the life of the damned thing once it kicks in.
Until we find a cure for the common cold (and don’t hold your breath for that), here are 10 tips for getting past all that coughing and sneezing, aside from salt-watering the inside of your head:
Get a REAL good night’s sleep
Most people don’t get enough shut-eye. Maybe you’re not like most people. But consider this: less than seven hours of sleep a night makes you three times as likely to catch a cold, and bad sleep overall increases your susceptibility to colds by a factor of five. That’s according to a 2009 study at Carnegie Mellon University. Better sleep, on the other hand, reinforces your immune system’s ability to combat infectious diseases like the common cold virus. So, rest up.
Re-hydrate
Drinking water can help to loosen congestion and thin out that unsavory slime lingering in your head and chest. So can clear broth or fruit juice (or, if you’re feeling fancy, lemon water heated with honey). Just avoid caffeinated sodas — they’re more likely to keep you dehydrated and feeling gross.
Lay off the booze
This may go without saying, given the last tip, but alcoholic drinks don’t count as hydration — in fact, they sap needed fluids, making your sick self even more gummed up inside. If you’re going to enjoy a drink from time to time, make sure to keep an even closer eye on how much water you’re imbibing.
Un-stress
Colds and other acute illnesses can be brought on or exacerbated by stress and anxiety. So read up on stress relief and relaxation techniques, and practice them as they suit your lifestyle. If you don’t make time for it, you’ll never see why you should have started earlier.
Don’t stack your chips on Vitamin C, echinacea, or zinc
Is there anecdotal evidence that these three magic bullets help you to trounce your sniffles? Sure. But their effectiveness has long been contested, and taking huge doses of Vitamin C, especially, has yet to show concrete results. Drink a glass of OJ here and there, and it certainly won’t hurt. But it may be best to skip vitamin-crammed commercial products like Airborne. (Who needs 15,000 IUs of Vitamin A in a single day? No one.)
Get misty
Breathing warm steam isn’t a guaranteed cure (and it’s not exactly easy to spend all day in a room full of the stuff), but at least consider plugging in a humidifier or cool mist vaporizer to add some moisture to the air. Failing that, throw a pot of water on the stove and let it boil. Many cold sufferers find steam loosens congestion and helps nudge them back toward the land of the deep breathers.
Gargle with salt water
It sounds old-timey, but it works. Why? Two reasons. Saline solution helps to clean out the inflamed tissues in your throat while drawing out excess fluid. Also, gargling blasts through any heavy layers of mucus in your throat, which can dislodge any bacteria and allergens that may be camping out there.
Get garlicky
There’s not much concrete evidence that garlic extract can help cut short a bad cold, but there are lots of parents out there who whip up garlic-filled soups when the kids start coughing. How could they all be wrong? Worst comes to worst, you’re stuck eating delicious soup.
Drink turmeric tea
Turmeric is famously anti-inflammatory, and a hot cup of it may hit your sore spots just right. Mix a few teaspoons of turmeric with about one-third of a cup of honey (be careful; turmeric stains). Each time you want to prep a dose of the good stuff, put a teaspoon of the paste into a mug, add hot (not boiling) water plus a squeeze of lemon juice and some black pepper, and stir. Bada bing! A magic potion for sore-throats.
Oh, honey
I’m not saying that over-the-counter cough syrups don’t have their place. But I’d point out that a Penn State study from 2007 found that consuming a few teaspoons of honey before bed is not just good at alleviating a cough — it’s a better treatment than dextromethorphan, one of the most common cough suppressants sold at pharmacies. We may be living in a world of medical miracles, but the home remedy ain’t dead yet.•
Contact Hunter Styles at hstyles@valleyadvocate.com.
