Most of us know how
disrupting, irritating and painful a cough can be. Especially if it prevents
you sleeping at night or if your job involves a lot of speaking and the cough
prevents you from doing it. In some cases, it may be necessary to take some
cough suppressing medicines but often, simple substances in your kitchen
1. Gargles
As soon as you feel soreness in your throat, make it a point to
gargle with salt dissolved in warm water. The salt in the water can help drain
excess fluid from inflamed areas in the throat reducing the symptoms. The gargling also removes irritants in
the throat and thins the mucus.
2. Drink Warm Liquids
Drinking
warm water is a good way of soothing the inflammation in the throat*; but this
does not have any taste and may be unappetizing for most people. A warm soup is
a much better solution as is a glass of hot herbal tea.
3. Throat Lozenges
A
study conducted at Wayne State University, in Detroit, showed that patients who
took zinc lozenges every two to three waking hours cut the duration of a cold
by almost half. The irritation caused by constant coughing can also be
overcome by using throat lozenges. While some lozenges are medicated and
contain ingredients such as dextromethorphan (a cough suppressant) or benzocaine (an anesthetic), others contain
natural soothing ingredients such as honey, menthol, peppermint oil or
eucalyptus oil. In many homes, it is also quite common to make small children
suck on the red-colored variety of rock candy (Mishri in Hindi) to stop cough.
4. Use Vaporubs
According to a study at the Penn State College of Medicine,
children above 2 years of age has symptomatic relief and could sleep better
after applying vaporubs. While the exact reason how vaporubs work remains a mystery, the
ingredients such as menthol, camphor and eucalyptus may have a role in
relieving congestion.
5. Sleep With the Head Elevated
In some persons, a productive cough results when mucus drips
from the back of the nose into the throat. This tends to grow worse at night
when the body posture is conducive for such dripping. Sleeping with the head at
a higher position helps to reduce such drainage and many people find this
position helps reduce coughing at night and improves sleep.
6. Turmeric
A
traditional remedy that most people swear by is the use of hot milk with
turmeric. According to a study**, it is shown to even have antibacterial
properties.
Heat a glass of milk, mix in half a teaspoon of turmeric powder
and drink warm to find relief from cough. A turmeric gargle also gives good
results. To one cup of hot water, add in half a teaspoon of turmeric powder and
half a teaspoon table salt. Use this liquid as a throat gargle and you are sure
to experience relief from cough.
For a dry cough, turmeric powder mixed with a teaspoon of honey
taken three to four times a day is effective. You could also try
preparing turmeric tea by adding one tablespoon of turmeric powder into 4 cups
of boiling water. Keep for a few minutes, strain and mix in some lemon and
honey to the liquid and drink.
7. Honey
Since
ages, honey has been known to soothe the irritated throat linings and reduce cough.
There are different ways of using honey besides the one
mentioned in combination with turmeric. A dry cough responds to a mixture of honey with juice from grapes. A glass of hot milk with
some honey added just before going to bed is effective at relieving night time
cough. Mix in honey and lemon juice to a glass of warm water and drink this
three times per day for relief from cough.
If you have a particularly nasty cough, try this remedy. Take
about 3 tablespoons of flaxseeds in
1 cup of water and boil. When the water starts thickening, strain the liquid
and mix in 3 tablespoons each of lemon juice and honey. Swallow about 1
tablespoon of this mixture when you experience a severe coughing fit. Honey
also works well in combination with betel leaf (paan). Grind a few washed betel leaves and
extract the juice; add 1 teaspoon of honey to 2 teaspoons of this juice, mix
and consume about half an hour after meals. Repeat for about 5 days to find relief
from cough.***
8. Ginger
For a dry cough, one of the easiest ways of finding relief is to
cut a piece of fresh ginger, sprinkle some salt on it and chew on it for a few
minutes. However, not everyone likes the strongly aromatic
taste of ginger and in such cases, a tea made with ginger is equally good. Chop
ginger into fine pieces, add into a vessel containing one cup of water. Keep
boiling the liquid till the volume reduces to half the original quantity.
Strain the liquid, add one teaspoon of honey and drink when warm to give a
soothing effect against cough.
Ginger in combination with tulsi is also an effective remedy for cough.
Crush about 10 leaves of tulsi, mix with juice
extracted from a small ginger piece. Add in an equal quantity of honey and mix;
swallow about a single teaspoon of this about thrice a day to get relief from
cough.
People who don’t mind the strong spicy flavour of pepper can also add in some black
pepper powder and turmeric into a mixture of ginger juice with honey. When this
paste is slowly licked for 10 to 15 minutes thrice a day, it helps reduce
congestion in the throat and reduces cough. A simple ginger tea is easy to
prepare by boiling ginger with water; then add tea leaves or tea powder, drop
in some tulsi leaves and pepper powder,
strain and drink for relief from cough.
9. Garlic
Garlic
is an effective antimicrobial and expectorant and this makes it a valuable
agent to fight cough.
Lightly crush about 5 cloves of peeled garlic and sauté in a
teaspoon of ghee; consume when still warm for relief from cough and cold.
Include crushed garlic sautéed in ghee in other dishes where possible. Do this
with rasam, and you have a medicinal soup
that soothes your throat and also helps liquefy the thick mucus, making it
easier to cough out the phlegm.
Thanks
MJN Corp..........
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