No one likes a cold, and various colds of one origin or another are going around this winter season. One of the worst parts of the common cold is that itҳ unpleasant enough to make daily life annoying but mild enough to force you to still go out into the world and maintain a normal schedule. But you donҴ want to have to do that. You donҴ want to get anyone else sick, and you want to feel better׼em>fast. How do you do it? How can you speed up your clearance of a cold, whether through actually expelling the virus from your body, getting rid of the symptoms, or both? Letҳ talk about that. How to Feel Better Quickly When You Have a Cold These are the basic, research-backed things to do when you have a cold and want to get over it fast. Get enough selenium Get enough zinc Eat a bunch of garlic Drink raw golden milk Try nasal irrigation Try povidone-iodine gargling and nasal rinsing Drink bone broth Eat spicy food Get Enough Selenium Almost every upper respiratory tract infection IҶe ever studied has selenium deficiency as an enhancing variable. Most viruses, for example, sequester selenium and utilize it to replicate and to weaken the host, leaving them wide open for further, deeper infection. The common cold is likely no different. Eat Brazil nuts (one to three per day) and oysters and wild salmon. It is possible to overdo selenium, so donҴ go overboard with supplementation. Just eat selenium-rich foods while youҲe experiencing symptoms. Get Enough Zinc Zinc is the most important mineral for immune function, especially regarding upper respiratory tract infections. Depending on the virus, zinc has been shown to inhibit replication, lower binding, and block various physiological processes many viruses use to attack and ingratiate themselves with the host (you). And this isnҴ just theoretical or based on cell culture studies. The best evidence we have shows that zinc supplementation reduces the duration of common colds in adults.1 Eat Lots of Garlic Garlic is a potent super food lurking in plain sight. Garlic and its components can improve immune function, reduce the occurrence of common colds, and block viral entry into host cells.234 If I feel a cold coming on, IҬl crush and dice up an entire head of garlic and lightly simmer it in a big mug of bone broth. I find Iam usually able to ward off whateverҳ headed my way. Of course, thatҳ just an anecdote and theࡶailable evidence is more equivocal.5 Drink Raw Golden Milk Ayurveda is the traditional Indian system of medicine. Although talk of chakras and levitating gurus lets rational skeptics dismiss it entirely, modern science has vindicated many Ayurvedic therapies, herbs, and concepts. Golden milk is one, and itҳ really simple. Add turmeric and black pepper (plus other spices) to milk࡮d it turns gold. In Ayurveda, golden milk is used to fight sore throats, colds, and flus. Does it work? Well,വrmeric is absolutely rife෩th potent pharmacological effects. It may be able toಥlieve cough࡮d࣬ear up excess mucus, at least according to animal studies.67 Milk might actually be a bigger aid.ҥsearch has shown that a combo of two milk components׷hey protein and lactoferrinשs able to reduce the incidence of the common cold in people.8 That was a concentrated supplement, however. Your standard glass of milk doesnҴ have nearly as much whey or lactoferrin. Raw milkୡy be a better option, as it contains more lactoferrin than pasteurized milk, and raw෨ey provides more glutathione-boosting effects than heat-treated whey. To preserve these benefits, youҬl have to drink your golden milk unheated, of course. Hereҳ how IҤ make it: Fill a blender bottle with turmeric, black pepper, raw milk, and extra whey protein. Add a sweetener if you prefer. Shake vigorously. Drink. Maybe chase it with a lactoferrin or colostrum (the Ӧirst milkԠthatҳ highest in lactoferrin) supplement. Try Nasal Irrigation In Sanskrit, ӮetiԠmeans Ӯasal cleansing.ԠThe neti pot is a exactly what it sounds like. You fill a tiny kettle with warm saline water, tilt your head over a sink, and pour the water into one nostril. It flows out the other one, clearing your nasal cavity and letting you breathe again. The scientific term is Ӯasal irrigation,Ԡand it really does work against the worst part of a bad cold: the stuffy nose that keeps you up at night, gives you dry mouth, and makes food taste bland.9 Also, itҳࢥtter than antibiotics in kids with rhinosinusitis.10 It even improves symptoms in infants with bronchiolitis, another kind of viral infection.11 Gargling and Nasal Irrigation with 1% Povidone-Iodine Make a 1% solution of povidone-iodine (1.5 tablespoons 10% povidone-iodine/betadine into 250 mL nasal irrigation bottle and fill the rest up with sterile/distilled water) and gargle with that at the first hint of a sore throat and spray it into your nasal passages. Betadine is intensely virucidal when applied topically. One study even found that COVID patients who gargled with 1% betadine had quicker clearance of the virus and its associated symptoms.12 Since the common cold is often a coronavirus, itҳ also probably susceptible to betadine. Worth a try. Bone broth/chicken soup People call itӊewish penicillin,ԠandനeyҲe not lying: evidence has࣯nfirmedനat chicken soup eases nasal congestion, improves the function of the nasal cilia protecting us from pathogen incursions, and reduces cold symptoms. Does it have to beࣨicken? As most cultures include soup in their list of effective cold remedies, I suspect itҳ the goodness of theࢲothനatҳ important and any trueࢯne broth-based soup will work. Hell, in a pinch pure collagen peptides might even do the trick, though IҤ opt for the real bone broth if you can. Spicy Food Some people, when ill, swear that spicy food helps them ӳweat it out.ԠMaybe, but a better bet lies in its effect on our nasal cavities. Capsaicin, the chili pepper component that produces a burning sensation in mammalian tissue,ಥduces nasal inflammation. When your nasal blood vesselsࡲe inflamed, the walls constrict; the space gets tighter and you have trouble breathing. Studies੮dicate that capsaicin is effective against most symptoms of nasal congestion.13 My Cold Remedies The foundation for my resistance and response to upper respiratory tract infectionsੳnҴ any specific food or supplement, of course. Itҳ everything. Itҳ my೬eep, my೴ress, myലaining, myబay. And yes, myযod. As I said about my experience with COVID, IҤ been training for it my entire life. But it does happen to the best of us, and itҳ the worst. We shouldnҴ accept being sick. I never do. IҶe mentioned୹ common cold medicine:༳trong>an entire head (yes, a head) of crushed garlic lightly simmered in a mug of bone broth spiked with cayenne, hot sauce, or fresh chilies. If I feel a cold coming on, IҬl drop whatever Iҭ doing and prepare it. This is a potent combination of three of the cold-busting ingredients with the most support in the literature (broth, garlic, and spicy food). Lately, IҶe been including black garlic, a delicious fermented variety that tastes like molasses and has increased pharmacological activity. If I have a sore throat, heating up and drinking a༳trong>blend of lemon juice (lime works too), water, and raw honey in a 4:4:1 ratio always makes me feel better. I tend to use a wild neem honey harvested in India. Iҭ not sure if the bees feeding on neem makes a difference, though the plantयes possess antiviral and immunomodulatory effects. IҶe also heard great things about black seed honey, made from bees who feed on the black cumin seed flowers. I also use these zinc acetate lozenges recommended by Chris Masterjohn. If you ever feel a sore throat coming on, suck on these and let them dissolve in your mouth. Each one takes about 30 minutes to dissolve, but it really does help. How do you folks beat colds? What do you do? Thanks for reading, everyone. References https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32342851/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22280901 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11697022 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32836826/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25386977 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22557276 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11599365 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23642947 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25336097 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26514931 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26607495 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.07.20180448v1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25336097 The post Have a Cold? How to Feel Better Quickly appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple. --------------------------------------- By: Mark Sisson Title: Have a Cold? How to Feel Better Quickly Sourced From: www.marksdailyapple.com/have-a-cold-how-to-feel-better-quickly/ Published Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2022 19:28:33 +0000 Read More