Simple home remedy for the common cold

When you believe you are experiencing the onset of a cold, first and foremost you must consider when NOT to treat symptoms.

Believe it or not, those annoying symptoms you're experiencing are part of the natural healing process -- evidence that the immune system is battling illness. For instance, a fever is your body's way of trying to kill viruses in a hotter-than-normal environment. Also, a fever's hot environment makes germ-killing proteins in your blood circulate more quickly and effectively. Thus, if you endure a moderate fever for a day or two, you may actually get well faster. Coughing is another productive symptom; it clears your breathing passages of thick mucus that can carry germs to your lungs and the rest of your body. Even that stuffy nose is best treated mildly or not at all. A decongestant, like Sudafed, restricts flow to the blood vessels in your nose and throat. But often you want the increase blood flow because it warms the infected area and helps secretions carry germs out of your body.

To avoid a complete viral infection, you can use a simple natural remedy to reduce the chances of the virus spreading. The following remedy requires only household ingredients.

Pour aprox. 1 fl.oz of cold water in a glass. Mix in a teaspoon of baking soda and table salt. Table salt (Sodium Chloride) varies in it's bio availability from temperature. Take your glass and put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Your remedy is now complete. This is a very foul tasting mixture, so it is recommended the water be filtered from the other ingredients. This can be done with coffee filters, an old shirt or even a few pieces of tissue.

I hope this remedy prove useful to some as we head into the winter months this year.