Common Cold Causes & Cure: 12 Home Remedies To Treat Common Cold And Cough.

Cold weather is almost always accompanied by a sniffy nose and sore throats. It leads to what we call. common cold. It is a problem of frequent occurrence and has many triggers like ever-changing weather, dust allergies, various amounts of germs that you might pick up in your day to day life. This deprivation of health hampers your work and brings disinterest in daily activities. If not treated well, it may become a viral fever.

What causes the common cold?

• The common cold is mainly a viral infection and almost 200 types of viruses are responsible for causing it.
• The changes in weather or coming in contact with these viruses in some way, is the prime cause of catching cold.
• Consuming Antibiotics for curing cold is not the right thing to do as it doesn’t work for it because cold is a viral infection and antibiotics can’t cure viral infections.

In usual circumstances, cold is cured itself when the body is given proper rest and a healthy diet. Complete rest is the most effective remedy for cold. If the symptoms persist and worsen with time, it may indicate seriousness of the illness and must be rectified. Immunity of the body fights this virus and that is how cold goes away on its own. One thing a person can do in this situation is to work on strengthening the Immune system of the body.

Symptoms one may experience after catching the common cold:-

• Running nose,
• Slight headache,
• Fever, 
• Blocked nose,
• Tiredness.

If you are feeling under the weather and on taking proper rest and diet, common cold does not go away, try these Home remedies for much-needed healing.

12 Natural Remedies for curing a Common Cold:-

Perfect Cold curing drink.

• Warm some water in the utensil and to this add sliced pieces of Lemon and ginger. 
• Let it stay still. After some time pour it into a cup and add 1 teaspoon of honey to it. 
• Consume the drink. It helps you stay hydrated and gives your immune system a gentle boost as it is naturally soothing and is anti-inflammatory in action. 
• It aids in digestion and speeds the recovery.

Remedies lying right in your kitchen.

• One such remedy includes the use of onion, garlic cloves and honey. 
• To cure the common cold, slice the onion and put it in a jar, add 2 crushed cloves of garlic to it. Augment with one tablespoon of honey and half a cup of warm water. Close the lid of the jar and store it.
• Sip the drink 2-3 times a day with 2-3 tablespoons each time for effective recovery from the common cold.
•  In each usage, this drink can be topped up with warm water.

How to make Natural Cough sweets.

• Take a pan and fill it with one cup of sugar and half a cup of water.
• Cut lemon into half and add 1 tablespoon of its juice into the pan. Put one tablespoon of honey into the pan. Grind ginger, half a teaspoon is to be added next and put quarter a teaspoon of ground cloves. 
• Turn the heat on and stir well and when the pan starts boiling, put it on simmer and give it a regular stir.
• After about 20-30 minutes, take the pan off the heat and let it cool down for some time. The appearance of syrup should be dark and syrup-like. 
• Line the baking tray with baking paper. Pour the mixture onto this with a piping bag.
• When done, keep them as such for cooling and dust them with the powder of icing sugar. 
• Take them off the paper while ensuring they are coated in icing sugar and put them on a plate ready for consumption. These sweets can be consumed directly or mixed with warm water and taken as a drink.

Curative properties of Thyme tea.

• This tea relaxes the muscles of the throat.
•  Boil thyme tea leaves in some water and make the addition of honey and lemon juice to it for the perfect cold curing tea.

Herbal concoction to heal common cold symptoms.

• Boil a glass of water and to this add a little ginger, 1/4th teaspoon of turmeric, 4-5 crushed black pepper, pinch giloy juice and 7-8 crushed tulsi leaves. 
• Mix well and cover the pan and let the medicinal fumes be trapped inside.
• Let it boil until 1/4th of water is left.
•  After 15-20 minutes, strain it and pour the drink into a glass.
•  Add a teaspoon of honey and a few drops of lemon to it and ingest.

Self-made cough syrup.

• Mix honey- half teaspoon, few drops of lemon and a pinch of cinnamon. 
• Take this mixture twice a day and particularly before sleeping as it will provide you with much-needed relief.

Eucalyptus oil steam.

• Add 2-3 drops of eucalyptus essential oil into a steaming hot bowl of water.
•  Hold your head over it and use a towel to trap the steam. 
• The methanol in eucalyptus oil combined with the steam will help decongest your stuffy nose and chest.

Essential oil Fusion.

• Melt beeswax in a container. Add coconut oil to it. 
• Mix well and add a few drops of peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, sandalwood oil and mix well. 
• Apply the fusion on your chest and neck area and massage well.
• Peppermint oil blesses you with relief in muscle pain and headache and eucalyptus oil soothes the throat.
• Sandalwood oil has significant anti-inflammatory properties.

Vitamin C and Zinc tablets.

• Vitamin C is known to boost immunity and fights any harmful foreign material in your body. Take 500 mg tablets of VC  3-4 times a day.
• Zinc, on the other hand, reduces the possibility of cold or cough and also helps reduce the duration of it. Take cough drops which contain zinc as one of its ingredients. 

Benefits of marshmallow.

• Marshmallow root is a herb that was historically used to soothe sore throats and one can use it by making a tea out of it. 
• In addition to this, marshmallows are also soothing because the gelatine coating in them calms the irritated and itchy throats.

 Biting down on raw garlic.

• Bite a piece of raw, sliced garlic for 10-15 minutes. 
• The taste of raw garlic may be unpleasant but it is an incredible bacteria fighter.

Echinacea

• Echinacea is a flower extract that has been in use for treating cold and coughs.
• It can be consumed in the form of tea, capsule or concentrated oil drops directly into your mouth.
•  It calms the heaviness that is accompanied by common cold symptoms.

Ways to increase immunity of the body:-

• Regulating your bowel movements to avoid constipation as stomach and related organs are responsible for almost 70% of the immunity that is present in your body.
• Consume fruits and vegetables, eat salad and increase the intake of warm water and other liquids.
• Don’t take heavy foods.
• Take steam breathing. This kills the viruses in the respiratory tract and recovery rate is doubled.
• Consult the doctor if and when needed.