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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Lifestyle and home remedies
By Mayo Clinic staffYou may not be able to cure your common cold, but you can make yourself as comfortable as possible. These tips may help:
- Drink lots of fluids. Water, juice, tea and warm soup are all good choices. They help replace fluids lost during mucus production or fever. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can cause dehydration, and cigarette smoke, which can aggravate your symptoms.
- Try chicken soup. Generations of parents have spooned chicken soup into their sick children. Now scientists have put chicken soup to the test, discovering that it does seem to help relieve cold and flu symptoms in two ways. First, it acts as an anti-inflammatory by inhibiting the movement of neutrophils — immune system cells that help the body's response to inflammation. Second, it temporarily speeds up the movement of mucus through the nose, helping relieve congestion and limiting the time viruses are in contact with the nasal lining.
- Get some rest. If possible, stay home from work if you have a fever or a bad cough, or are drowsy from medications. This will give you a chance to rest as well as reduce the chances that you'll infect others. Wear a mask when you have a cold if you live or work with someone with a chronic disease or compromised immune system.
- Adjust your room's temperature and humidity. Keep your room warm, but not overheated. If the air is dry, a cool-mist humidifier or vaporizer can moisten the air and help ease congestion and coughing. Be sure to keep the humidifier clean to prevent the growth of bacteria and molds.
- Soothe your throat. Gargling with warm salt water several times a day or drinking warm lemon water with honey may help soothe a sore throat and relieve a cough.
- Use saline nasal drops. To help relieve nasal congestion, try saline nasal drops. You can buy these drops over-the-counter, and they're effective, safe and nonirritating, even for children. To use in babies, put several drops into one nostril, then immediately bulb suction that nostril. Repeat the process in the opposite nostril. Doing this before feeding your baby can improve your child's ability to nurse or take a bottle, and before bedtime it may improve sleep.
References
- Gwaltney JM. The common cold. In: Mandell GL, et al. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone; 2005. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/107482514-6/0/1259/1.html?tocnode=51375605&fromURL=1.html. Accessed Oct. 15, 2008.
- Health matters: The common cold. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/cold.htm. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
- Guidelines for the prevention and treatment of influenza and the common cold. American Lung Association. http://www.lungusa.org. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
- Common cold. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/commonCold/. Accessed Oct. 15, 2008.
- Many OTC medications not recommended for cough treatment. American College of Chest Physicians. http://www.chestnet.org. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
- Mabry RL, et al. Allergic rhinitis. In: Cummings CW, et al. Otolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery. 4th ed. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2005. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/108305975-4/763572162/1263/394.html#4-u1.0-B0-323-01985-4..50045-9--cesec13_1707. Accessed Oct. 24, 2008.
- New cough guidelines urge adult whooping cough vaccine. American College of Chest Physicians. http://www.chestnet.org/. Accessed Oct. 15, 2008.
- Infant deaths associated with cough and cold medications - United States, 2005. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/media/mmwrnews/2007/n070111.htm. Accessed Oct. 23, 2008.
- Hopkins AB. Chicken soup cure may not be a myth. The Nurse Practitioner. 2003;28(6):16.
- Zinc. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Oct. 8, 2008.
- Reynolds SA, et al., Hand sanitizer alert. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no03/05-0955.htm. Accessed Oct. 3, 2008.
- Aminoff MJ, et al. Disorders of cognitive function - Reye syndrome. In: Aminoff MJ, et al. Clinical Neurology. 6th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2005. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2079232&searchStr=reye+syndrome. Accessed Oct. 24, 2008.
- Echinacea. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
- Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
- Transcript of FDA press conference on cough and cold medicine. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/transcripts/2008/coughcold_transcript011708.pdf. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- FDA statement following CHPA's announcement on nonprescription over-the-counter cough and cold medicines in children. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01899.html. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
