Home Remedies for Common Cold

Common Cold
Do's and Don't for Common Cold

Following are some of the simple tips to prevent common cold:

- Take hot vegetable soups, or steamed vegetables with little or no spices in them.

- Avoid foods that are difficult to digest such as cheese, yoghurt, milk, oily and spicy foods and sweets.

- Hot foods are very effective in getting relief from cold. Hot chicken soup is a traditionally known remedy for cold.

- Take some walk in the fresh air and get enough rest.

- If you have got cold, you should take all precaution that it doesn’t pass on to others. Do not go near infants and children as they are the most vulnerable to attracting cold. Also use a handkerchief when you cough or sneeze. Keep your utensils separate.

- Do not remain in a cramped room when you have a common cold. Open the windows and let the air pass, but don’t do this if it is cold outside.

Home Remedies for Common Cold

Following are some of the effective home remedies for common cold:



- Mix some jaggery and black pepper together and boil this in water. Sip this when hot like a tea.

- Prepare a lemon juice by squeezing the juice of two lemons in a glassful of water. Put sugar to sweeten it. This must be taken at bedtime to seek relief from the nasal catarrh.

- Apply eucalyptus oil on the forehead, chest and the nostrils in the night before going to bed. Then wrap yourself in a warm blanket and go to sleep. You will sweat profusely in the night, but let that happen. In the morning, the cold will disappear, and so will any fever if present.

- Mix one teaspoon of lemon juice and honey each in a half teaspoon. Add hot water to it and make syrup. This syrup will soothe throat, loosen mucous membrane, cure fever and body pain.

- Take steam if suffering from chest congestion and cold. It clears chest congestion by loosening mucous. Once you start inhaling steam, the mucous starts liquefying and clear congestion in chest.

Herbal Remedies for Common Cold

Following are some of the effective herbal remedies for common cold:



- Garlic is very useful herb for treating cold. Add a spoon of garlic paste to a glass of warm milk. This garlic containing milk will reduce chest congestion, improves breathing and acts as an efficient antioxidant that protect against cold.

- Bishop’s weed is very effective in treating nasal blockages in children. It has the power to open up clogged nasal passages. Its seeds are tied in a cloth and inhaled directly to clear congestions..

- Cassia roots are also used as a home remedy for cold. Its roots are burnt and the smoke from them is inhaled. The mucus discharge will increase after such a treatment, but within a while it will stop completely.

- Boil cinnamon in a glass of water with a pinch of pepper and honey. This will reduce the sore throat problems and also prevents cold from becoming chronic, or developing into something serious like pneumonia or influenza..

- Cumin seeds have beneficial effects if the cold is accompanied with fever. It is also effective in treating the throat irritations.

- Ginger extract taken several times a day is very beneficial in treating coughs that accompany common colds. Ginger tea is also very effective in treating colds.

- Holy basil is also used as an herbal remedy for common cold. Chewing few leaves of holy basil (tulsi) gives relief from cold. Boil its leaves in water and drink. It is natural and very effective in cold.

- Another natural remedy for cold is onion. It has the power to liquefy the phlegm. This makes the sticky mucus runny and is discharged out of the nose.