Greening up your cold
This is a first hand account of how to green up your cold. As I write this, I’m sitting in my bed surrounded by tissues, tea, and two dogs snoring soundly despite my incessant sneezing and coughing.
So, what do I mean by greening up your cold? Well, as I commented in a previous post, being sustainable is about making choices – that includes choices when you’re in bed with a cold.
1. Blowing & Coughing are good! That’s right. This is your body’s way of expelling the cold/flu virus from your body. Choose your body’s natural ability to fight colds over pharmaceuticals whenever possible. I don’t recommend using cold medicines as they can actually extend the length of your cold as they suppress your body’s ability to heal. Also, did you know that a few known side effects of cold medicines are elevated blood pressure and heart rate as well as the jitters?
Instead, treat a cough with herbal tea (or just hot water) with a teaspoon of local honey and a squeeze of lemon. It really does work. If you have to treat the cough, look for natural remedies such as lozenges that help ease a cough without suppressing it. As for congestion and a runny nose? Blow baby, blow! And here’s where I had to make a choice. I realize that tissues use trees and add to our landfill, however, the idea of hankies during a cold does nothing for me. Now, I’m not a germaphobe, however, the idea of wet, virus ridden hankies lying around for a few days is not appealing to me. Yuk. I have tissues in the house that contain recycled content (100% to be exact) but my nose is not loving them at the moment. So, I made the choice to pick up some tissues with lotion. Yeah, so shoot me. I don’t get sick often and well, I don’t appreciate looking like Rudolph in April.
2. Break out the Essential Oils. These little gems work wonders to alleviate congestion, promote rest and boost immunity. Yup.
Essential Oils are the lifeblood of plants. They are what give plants their strength, their ability to fight diseaase and to attract pollinators. Two of the best essential oils for colds are Eucalyptus and Lavender. Both are readily available here at Greenfeet and are affordable. It’s key to purchase quality essential oils that are pure, unadulterated and from a reputable source.
To use: For relieving congestion, simple add a few drops of Eucalyptus essential oil to a pot of hot water (it’s important to do this once the water has boiled and you have removed it from the burner otherwise you’ll burn off the healing properties of the oil), grab a towel and place over your head as you inhale the steam. Be sure to close your eyes.
For Lavender, add a few drops to a hot bath or place a drop directly on your pillowcase to help lull you to sleep.You can even rub a drop on the bottom of each foot. If you’d like a few more tips on the benefits of essential oils and how to use them, check out our article Defining Essential Oils by respected aromatherapist Jade Shutes.
3. You’re Grandma was right. Drinking plenty of water, sleep and good old fashioned chicken noodle soup are all tried and true methods for kicking a cold. Oh, and one more thing – be patient. A virus needs to run its course. Getting antibiotics for viruses doesn’t help. As a matter of fact, it can help to strengthen superbugs making it tougher and tougher for antibiotics to work.
Yeah, having a bad cold sucks. But by making choices that work with your body, rather than against it, you’ll help build your immune system helping you to fight off future illnesses. What are your best ‘green’ tips for treating a cold? My nose is dying to know.
Tags: cold, cough, essential oils, green, natural remedies
I’m sharing your pain! It’s not fun to be home with a cold. I love your article. I laughed, coughed, and laughed again when I read what you said about using tissues. I try to be “green”, but when it comes to tissues, I’m picky about my brand and just can’t handle the thought of using hankies, either. Thanks for the helpful tips! Hope you feel better soon! Nola
Eucalyptus, sage. rosemary, fennel, and several other oils are known cnovulsants. Eucalyptus oil can be extremely toxic [especially if injested] but can have several different adverse reactions; from rash to vomting to depression after minimal contact with skin.
Many herbal teas can raise one’s blood pressure higher than manmade over-the-counter medications. The good thing about OTC’s is they at least put the known side-effects in the directions.
Sneezing and coughing are simply the consequences of aggitated nerves; the body’s natural reaction to stimulus. Dust, sunlight or even a full stomach can cause the body to sneeze or cough.
As always, personal education is the true saving factor in treatment and prevention.
I”ve been using essential oils for about thirteen years now. I swear by these botanical gems and highly recommend them. When I had a super duty cold last month I found that eating sauteed onions and garlic combined with baths to be my key remedy. In fact I blogged afterwards because it was so amazing that our kitchen offers us so many remedies…many which people have no idea of or forgotten. If you like onions and garlic, that’s a real simple one. Yum, yum!
My 14 month old son has a cold and we’ve had the humidifier going to moisten the air. We’ve also given him honey to help with the cough as well as saline nose spray since he can’t yet work the neti pot. Tonight he had herbal tea (Just for Kids- Organic Cold Care) and an extra bath before bed which worked wonders loosening him up. He’s also gotten lots of extra snuggle time!
I like to mix a teaspoon of dried, ground ginger into a paste in a cup with a little lemon juice and then fill it up with hot water adding honey. you have to keep stirring it as you drink it to keep the ginger in solution but it seems to knock a cold on its head nicely.
You can cut up old tshirts into hankie sized squares (I make mine smaller, actually) and use those instead of hankies. I have a clean pile next to me, and a basket of used on the other side. At the end of the day, they get tossed into the laundry with whatever I’m washing that day. Works pretty well for me!
That’s a good idea Angie. I’ll try that now that I’m not a snot factory and see how it goes. One day (and one hankie) at a time!