This year, I tried out a few new remedies and beat mine in record time. Have your own bug-beating remedies? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!
1. Bring on the Heat
...with hot tea, frequent baths with eucalyptus salts, and a visit to the sauna and steam room if they're available. Heat makes us feel better by relieving congestion and helping us breathe more easily. While the expectorant effect of some of these tactics is proven, there is lots of conflicting research out there about whether we can actually 'detoxify' the illness out of our body through heat. Conflicting research and all, using heat to reduce symptoms and gently sweat out some of the grossness is one of my favorite strategies for dealing with an irritating illness.
2. Echinacea, Vitamin C, and Multi-Vitamins
When I was little, we always busted out the orange juice when someone came down with a bug. I recently added echinacea to the list, which has been found, along with Zinc, to shorten the duration of colds.
I also load up on multi-vitamins and plenty of Emergen-C. These days, I've been drinking it in hot water, like tea.
3. Honey, Lemon, and Turmeric
In our house, we recently started having a mug of hot lemon water each morning to start the day. I love the warmth and detoxifying properties of this new morning tradition. What I didn't know was that lemons are also quite high in Vitamin C.
For a bit of sweetness and to soothe a sore throat or cough, try adding a bit of honey.
Depending on how brave you're feeling, try adding some turmeric for some additional healing and warming properties, or garlic for some highly impressive healing power.
Curious to try turmeric but not so sure about the lemon/turmeric combination? Here's another warming drink to try.
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| Jake doesn't need any convincing when it comes to the importance of sleep. |
Despite all of the conflicting research out there, sleep is the number one consistent piece of advice across experts. Like the idea in theory but curious to know how to improve your own sleep? Check out this earlier blog post on the topic.
7. Reduce Your Stress
The health impacts of stress are astonishing. 75-90% of all doctor's office visits are stress related. Stress impacts our sleep, our blood pressure, our heart, and our skin, and our overall wellness. Stress has been linked to cancer, aging, chronic disease, stroke, and even shrinking our brain. Yikes!
Of course some stress is inevitable and small amounts of stress can even be good, to help us accomplish something big or be extra productive.
Here are a few ways to reduce stress, and keep your brain from shrinking!
- Schedule Time to Unplug. Try scheduling a half hour or an hour per day free of technology, cell phones, and laptops. Need extra accountability? Try this with friends or loved ones, and check in throughout the week to see how everyone is doing. Not so sure you can do 30 minutes? Start with 10!
- Pet Your Dog (or someone's), or better yet, rescue one! It's said that dogs reduce stress and anxiety, and having one in the house may actually improve our overall health.
- Find Your Tribe. It's said that we're the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. Having a tribe of healthy, happy, supportive friends keeps us happier and healthier. Plus, it means we have people to laugh with - which provides health benefits of its own.
- Get Moving. In study after study, exercise has been found to reduce stress and improve overall health. This doesn't need to be 3 hours at the gym; it can be as simple as a 20 minute meditative walk in nature.
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