The flu can get to the best of us. Here are home-remedies to take care of it.
1.Drink .
The flu can leave you dehydrated, especially if have vomiting or diarrhea. Ensure that you get enough fluids. Water is fine, so are fruit juices, soda, and electrolyte beverages. Remember to stay away from caffeinated drinks, because caffeine is a diuretic. Herbal tea with honey can appease a sore throat. If you feel nauseated, try taking small sips of liquids instead of gulps which might cause you to throw up. You be sure you’re getting enough fluid by your urine which should be pale yellow, almost colorless.
There’s no way you should drink alcohol when you have the flu. “When you have the flu, the last thing you want to do is drink alcohol,” says William Schaffner, MD, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. “It makes you sleepy, and flu does that already.”
2.Soup for the soul.
For generations, thoughtful parents have been serving chicken soup to kids with colds and flu. A study published in the journal Chest showed that chicken soup may help with symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections like the flu.
“I believe that chicken soup does help with symptoms,” says Reid B. Blackwelder, MD, professor of family medicine at East Tennessee State University in Kingsport. But not all doctors agree that chemistry alone explains the soup’s obvious benefits. “When you lean over a bowl of hot chicken soup and the vapor gets up your nose, you feel better,” Schaffner says. “But some [of the benefit] is clearly emotional. It just makes you feel better having someone make soup for you.”
3.Be a couch potato.
Listen to your body and take rest. If it’s telling you not to exercise, don’t. If it’s asking you to spend all day in bed, do. Don’t press on with daily errands even in the face of severe cold or flu symptoms. Rest is “another way of supporting the body’s ability to fight infection,” Blackwelder says.
And never hold back on on nighttime sleep. “Good sleep cycles help the immune system work well, so it’s important to get your full eight hours of sleep each night,” Schaffner says.
4.Humidify.
Inhalation of moist air helps ease nasal congestion and sore throat pain. One good policy is to pander to in a steamy shower several times a day — or just turn on the shower and sit in the bathroom for a few minutes, inhaling the steam. Another is to use a humidifier. Clean it often to make sure it’s free of mold and mildew.
