Feeling a little unpleasantly green.

 

I've been feeling a little ill the last few weeks, which has made writing in this blog not really something I've been thinking off.  This time I felt so bad I caved and took copious amounts of lemsip and cough medicine. It's not something I normally do, usually I just let my body deal with it on its own accord, having a hot drink with lemon juice with honey (sometimes), and maybe take some paracetimol if I need to lower my temperature. I generally prefer to do this as it gives my body a chance to deal with it on its own and get my immune system working. But it did make me think, are there any natural remedies that you can take when you're ill that actually work.
So far, the natural products usually put forward as the best ways of dealing with a colds, vitamin C, zinc and echinacea, don't do too well on the research front, with the mixed results generally leaning towards the negative.  Even chicken soup isn't getting the thumbs up, mainly because its difficult to find something that looks, feels, smells and tastes like chicken soup to compare it too.  So what can you use?

1. The first seems pretty obivous, lots of rest!  Dealing with a cold (or flu) does take a lot of energy and so, ensuring that that's the only thing it has to deal with, increases your body's ability to deal with the illness and to get better sooner.  This I definitely try and do, but I have to admit I get easily bored lying in bed for hours.
2. Drink hot drinks.This is really just to spot dehydration, relieve congestion and help sooth inflamed areas.  It's not a cure, but it does help make things feel better.
3. Gargling.  Again, not really a cure, though gargling with warm water and salt can help with the actual infection, but it does help smooth your throat by moistening the area and removing the particules that cause inflamation in your throat.
4. Steam.  Great for adding moisture to dry chest and throats, as well as opening up sinuses to allow breathing and to remove infected mucus from the body.
5. Honey.  Designed to keep the hive healthy and happy, honey has antioxidants, antibacterial and antiviral properties.  Best with the least amount of processing possible, honey can help boost the immune system, soothe soar throats, improve coughs and helps eliminate the secondary bacterial infection that you can get with colds and flu.
6. Ginger. Containing compounds called gingerols, which has been shown to reduce pain, inflammation, germs and viruses, its one of the best ways of reducing the affects of the cold or flu virus and helping your body to get rid of the virus itself. Mixed with honey and warm water, a warm ginger drink can be one of the most soothing things you can take while feeling ill.

If I'm honest I usually try most of these when I'm feeling ill, but probably not to the extent that I should to actually make a difference.  As I've said before, I get bored very easily when ill and don't really do the things I'm meant to do.  Next time I'm not feeling great, which hopefully won't be for a very long time, I'll test all of these to see if they actually work and, if so, how well they work compared to the pharmaceutical things I used this time.