Cold-Fighting Tricks That Really Work – And Ones That Don’t
by Amanda Loudin
We’ve got a routine around here whenever someone starts to feel a cold coming on. We boil up a pot of water for our tea infused with Echinacea. We grab fistfuls of zinc lozenges, because, those are supposed to work, right? And if we have any on hand, we top it all off with a glassful of NUUN Immunity, a fizzy alka seltzer like tablet chockfull of things like turmeric, ginger, elderberry and yet more Echinacea.
I don’t know if any of this works, but we all feel like it does, so we soldier on with our approach, cold season after cold season.
We’re probably like most families when fall rolls around and the viruses start to proliferate: relying on a combination of old wives’ tales and traditions in order to fight off the germs. Many of us swear by these remedies, but which of them really holds water? Let’s break it down:
Relief vs. Cure:
It’s important to understand that when it comes to the common cold, there simply is no cure. That said, there is plenty that can provide relief of symptoms, and even a few natural products that can shorten the duration of your suffering.
At the end of the day, science still hasn’t broken through with a cure for the common cold. Expect to be sick between five to seven days. The best way to avoid a bug remains the tried-and-true hand washing, staying well hydrated, and getting enough rest. After that, how you approach the cold that will inevitably find you at some point is up to you.
Where does this leave my family and our next round of viruses? I’m a believer in the placebo effect, so when this season’s first stuffy nose hits, I’m still reaching for that teapot. Gaining even a half day back out of a given week sounds good to me.
Amanda Loudin is an award-winning journalist whose health-and-fitness work appears regularly in the Washington Post, NBC, Outside magazine and many other outlets. You can find her here.