When You Catch a Cold

When you catch a cold, you might feel:

• Sore or tickly throat

• Headache and body aches, especially the back of the neck

• Runny nose, sniffles

• Cough

• Fatigue

And what you can do to shorten the duration of the cold is:

• Get plenty of rest, manage your stress.

• Drink fluids such as ginger tea, mint tea, lemon water, or make a thyme tea with lemon and honey.

• Take your vitamins, like vitamin C & D.

• Suck on a zinc lozenge. Just make sure you eat before taking zinc, so you don’t feel nauseated.

• Steam inhalation with eucalyptus, tea tree, pine, rosemary, or mint can help. Boil some water over the stove, turn off the heat, add a few drops of oil to the water and lean over the water with a towel over your head to focus the steam right onto your face, breathe in. You can do a simpler version with a teacup of hot water, a few drops of oil, and a little saucer over the water, inhale as needed. Get the nose to run and blow the virus out.

• Rinse your nose with a saline spray or gargle with salt water.

• Eat less sugar and more whole foods, such as soups, stews & tons of greens.

• Take an herbal remedy like Wellness Formula, Yin Qiao, or Airborne.

• Take an herbal cough syrup with elderberry or wild cherry.

• Wear hats, gloves, and scarves.  Keep warm and away from drafts and wind.