10 Natural Remedies for Seasonal Snottiness, Without Pills!!
With changes in the air this time of year, our immune systems get a workout! Not only are we more susceptible to colds and flus, we may also experience seasonal allergies. Basically, it can be a season of sniffles; and they have come to my house!
Last night, my youngest child asked me for some medicine for a snotty nose. He is 8 and does not swallow pills. I had him sniff some eucalyptus essential oil and he reported immediate relief. I know that relief tends to be temporary, and that I do not want my 8-year-old child messing around with essential oils because they are potent and can burn the skin. I happened to have a Neti Stik in my bathroom, so I showed him how to use that on his own in case he needed more relief when I was not available.
This exchange with my son got me thinking about home remedies for autumnal ailments. Many remedies do not require any special tools; the tradeoff however is that there is some effort involved. Some that do require special tools may be a good things to have around your home for when you need them.
Water treatments for colds:
· Stay Hydrated
o Think of it as water thinning your mucus. Aim to drink at least half of your body weight in ounces of water daily. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, drink 75 ounces of water each day. Increase this amount by 8 ounces if you are feeling a little run down.
· Steam inhalation for sinus congestion
o Boil 1-2 cups of water, and pour them into a mixing bowl. Add a few drops of essential oils like lavender, eucalyptus, sandalwood, or peppermint- which ever you prefer. Put the mixing bowl on a table where you can sit with it at about mid chest height or lower. Sit at the table with the bowl in front of you, like you would if you were going to eat from it. Bend so that your face is over the bowl and drape a large towel over your head so that it completely covers the bowl. At first, there will be a lot of steam and you will have to come up for air frequently, just sit up and move the towel carefully over the back of your head. Spend about 10 minutes going back and forth between bent over the bowl and sitting up with the towel over your shoulders. This remedy may cause significant nose blowing.
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Alternating hot and cold for deep sinus congestion
o This method can be best prior to using a neti pot, and also after a steam inhalation if the steam inhalation method does not clear out the deep stuff. This easy method requires only two tools: a washcloth and your sink faucet. Run the hot water as hot as you can stand, then completely saturate the washcloth with hot water. Wring the washcloth out, and apply to the upper half of your face. This will cover your eyes, some forehead, upper cheeks and nose, leaving your nostrils exposed. Do this for three minutes. You may need/want to get the washcloth hot multiple times during this three minute process. After this first phase, run the water as cold as you can stand. Completely saturate the washcloth with cold water and wring it out well. Apply to the upper half of your face for 30 seconds. Repeat hot and cold, for three minutes and 30 seconds three times. End on cold.
· Herbal teas for sore throats and coughs
o There are so many options that are supremely useful. Any herbalist can help you formulate a recipe that will be delicious to your taste buds and tailored to your ailments and allergies. Or you can reap some benefit from some generic teas.
o Earth Mama Organic Throat Smoothie Tea is licorice-free so that it’s safe for mamas and babies
o Gaia Bronchial Wellness Tea has licorice, and can be inappropriate for some patients- pregnant or nursing women, and people with high blood pressure for example
o Apple Cider Vinegar with hot water, honey and lemon is another great option
· Rest!! This means time for wakeful rest without screens, in addition to your sleep.
o Shivasana has always been the most important pose of my yoga practice. That pose has you laying on your back with your arms and legs sprawled out. Do not control your breathing, and close your eyes for 5-10 minutes. This pose is also called corpse pose. It is so important to the nervous system that no yoga practice should be without it. If you do not have time for an hour of yoga, do two hours of Shivasana instead.
· Cold Socks (aka Warming Socks, but literally, cold)
o This is a major mover of the circulatory system so skip this one if you have any circulatory system concerns. This only works at the first sign of a cold, that day when you wonder if you are coming down with something. At bedtime, take a hot foot bath. This can be in the form of an actual bath or shower. The goal is heating up your feet. Then take a thin pair of socks, cotton or silk, and run them under cold water from the faucet, completely saturate them and then wring them out well. Put them on. Really. After they are on, put on a thick pair of wool or fleece socks over the cold socks, and go to bed. Use extra covers if you need to make sure that you are toasty warm in bed. Once the under socks are dry, take them off.
· Cold throat wrap for sore throats
o There are different properties to long-cold, short-cold, long-hot and-short hot applications of water. With a painful throat, drawing fresh blood to the area with a long-cold application can help with overall healing as well as pain relief.
o Take a piece of cloth that fits around your neck, preferably cotton, silk or linen. (I use an old baby blanket). Completely saturate it in cold water and wring it out well. Apply to your entire neck, gently so that you still feel comfortable breathing. Wrap a thick, warm scarf, ideally wool or another natural fiber, but fleece works as well, all around your wet cloth, completely covering it. Bundle up in bed or on the couch for 20-30 minutes, until the cold wrap is completely dry. You can use this time to sip some tea or get some rest.
· Neti Pots for snotty noses, allergies, post-nasal drip, sore throats, and sinus congestion
o Neti Pots are an Ayurvedic medicinal treatment for sinus ailments. Their use involves pouring water up the nose such that it falls out the other nostril. This is accomplished with a head tilt to the side, not back. Breathing through your mouth should never be inhibited while using the neti pot. Using a neti pot can be messy, especially while learning the proper angle to use. Y Take the neti pot into the shower with you to experiment the best angle to use. Practicing in the shower contains the mess while you develop the muscle memory that will make it easy to do over the sink.
o Use a neti pot with sterile water plus enough salt. Sterile water can be purchased from a pharmacy or grocery store in bottles labeled “sterile water:” or you can boil water for one minute and then allow it to cool to room temperature. Neti pots are notorious for not getting cleaned between uses. Clean your neti pot!! Mine goes in the dishwasher as it is ceramic, like this one. Neti pots can be amazing, especially for allergies, as they can remove the offending agents. However, you need to make sure everything that goes into them is clean and that you get the right salinity. Too much salt will burn, not enough salt will burn. Read the instructions on your neti pot and follow them. This is a time to be precise.
· Dry brushing to move your lymphatics and move immune cells
o The lymphatic system moves white blood cells around your body to aid in healing. Unlike the blood circulation, the lymphatic system has no heart to act as a pump to drive the circulation. The lymphatic vessels are very delicate and rely on the pressure from exercise and movement of our bodies to move the essential immune cells they carry. Modern life has become much more sedentary leading to a rise in lymphatic and immune issues.
o Before you shower, very, very gently brush your skin with a soft bristle brush or a dry washcloth from your fingertips and toes toward your heart. These vessels are delicate and many of them are just below the surface of the skin. Although it may feel nice to scratch an itch with the brush or wash cloth, that is not helping the lymph move. Be gentle. Don’t worry about being too precise in the direction of your motion, the vessels themselves determine the course. Toward the heart is the most important part, up the arms, up the legs, down the head, face, neck and shoulders.
· Steam your kitchen with essential oils or plant parts
o When your house feels sick, when everyone is coming down with something, or when you are doing your fall cleaning, open your windows (or turn on your vent if you have allergies) and boil a big pot of water on the stove. Add your favorite essential oils or some plant parts! I like to add sprigs of lavender and rosemary because they grow rampantly in front of my house. Basil, eucalyptus, pine, cedar and roses all work wonderfully. I set the pot to a rolling boil and turn on a timer so that I will be reminded to add more water or take the pot off the stove.
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