After writing, how to get rid of a cough?, how to get rid of a stuffy nose?, how to stop a runny nose?, and how to break a fever?, we are now writing the best ways to get rid of a cold fast, overnight and quickly. We usually catch a cold and with time it usually leaves us. During those days it seems to never want to leave us even, when we would feel like we are going to lose our mind. The throbbing headaches, the constant dripping nose and the constant blowing of the nose that leaves the skin ripped and tender.
A cold is a common problem faces but it can turn into a nuisance, if the treatment ignored. Cold is a kind of infection that is caused due to various types viruses. In this article, we are giving the best ways to get rid of a cold fast, overnight and quickly. It can affect your exams or can also spoil your presentation at office. It can make you cancel your plans with friends or can also spoil your date. There are so many reasons that it becomes very important to get rid of a cold fast in time. In all, catching a cold could be the worst thing that could ever happen to any of us.
What Causes A Cold?
A cold is widely seen as a very self limiting yet contagious infection. Apparently this particular infection restricts itself only to the top portion of the respiratory system, thus mostly affecting the nose and the throat. A plethora of virus is believed to causes this particular infection. Though most such common colds usually tend to leave as harmlessly as they came, some, at times could linger longer since they are acting as a symptom of something more malignant within the body. If your cold seems to last a little longer than a week and if the onset is quite often, then for your own good, it would best to consult your physician. Get your blood tested to find out what pathogens are lurking beneath the surface. Here you are going to find some easy remedies and ways to get rid of a common cold in much better way.
Best Ways To Get Rid of a Cold Fast, Overnight and Quickly
1.) Sip On Warm Drinks
Even if you cannot instantly cure the cold but make sure you help to relieve it. You would have to hydrate your body with a lot of fluids and make certain that such fluids are quite warm. Warm fluids like soup or even just water will help not only in flushing out the unwanted toxins from your body but it would also soothe your throat. Also, it make certain that it helps relieve the mucus secretion. Warm fluids are known to help your body by dislodging the hardened mucus that is found in the sinus passage. This would bring out the unwanted mucus and the virus along with it. Warm water, soup, tea, broth or even a nice cup of black coffee will do the trick to get rid of a cold fast and quickly.
2.) Inhale Some Steam
Steaming is one of the best ways to get rid of a cold fast and quickly. Steam will moisturize your nasal passage and the sinus cavities to get rid of the germs and the unwanted mucus that has collected. Just like your skin, you can moisturize your nasal passage but quite not in the same way. If you have to use a moisturizing lotion you would only end up aggravating the nasal irritation, so just stick to steaming your face or getting a good steam bath. When the steam enters that nasal passage, it helps dislodge the mucus that has hardened within and brings it out. Using essential oil of eucalyptus will help to easily dislodge the mucus and the anti-germ property in this oil will help kills germs and relieve your off your cold easily.
3.) Have Some Ginger
Ginger is rich in antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties that help you get rid of a cold faster. There are many ways that you can consume ginger to get rid of a cold quickly. You can chew a raw ginger piece directly or you can also prepare a paste using ginger and cloves. You just have to take half-teaspoon of this paste once a day and you will be able cure a cold fast. Add the salt to taste, if you want. You can also prepare a ginger tea. To prepare the tea, boil a cup of water and add half-inch of crushed ginger to it. Now steep for 10 minutes and strain it. Add honey to taste and drink the tea. Drink it twice a day for best results.
4.) Take The Help From Garlic
Garlic is also rich in antiviral and antibacterial properties and thus proves to be a great remedy to fight off the symptoms of a cold. It also helps you built your immune system strong and opens your respiratory passages up. It is also known for flushing out toxins from the body. What you have to do is chew two-three garlic cloves daily. You can also make a garlic soup as well. To make the soup, boil a cup of water and add 5-6 chopped garlic cloves to it. Steep it for ten minutes and add a teaspoon of honey to it. Drink it thrice a day for best results.
5.) Take Hot Water Shower
Most of your elders would constantly nag about how you should not have a bath, when you have a cold. Their reasoning is that if you don’t dry yourself properly after your bath would again lead to more sinus related issues. Sadly, what they seem not to understand is that a good hot bath is definitely one of the best remedies to get rid of a cold fast and quickly.
A good hot shower that steams up would help cleanse your skin by opening up your pores. The steam would work in the nasal passage and the sinus areas to relieve any stubborn mucus and germs. On the other hand, you can take a bath in a tub of hot water. Adding essential oil of eucalyptus would again help with the skin and the nasal passage.
6.) Swish Some Oil
One of the best remedies to get rid of germs causing cold, and also followed in most Asian countries would be the technique of swishing oil to pull out the germs. Traditionally, people used mustard seed oil, sesame seed oil or even coconut oil to cleanse their mouths. For this technique, you would need half a glass of any of the above mentioned oil. Take a large sip of the oil, until it pushes your checks out and keep swishing the oil from one side to another. After about a minute and a half, you can spit the oil out.
Remember, with this technique you cannot gargle with the oil nor should you drink it. The whole point of swishing the oil is to use the oil to pull the germs out, so always spit the oil out. You can also use warm oil, but if you do not know the temperature that you can handle, then it would be best to skip heating the oil.
7.) Take Some Extra Vitamin C
If you have to end your “cold spell” really soon, then you would have to load up on the Vitamin C that you consume. Vitamin C is known to build immunity better and help fight all kinds of immunity related ailments. When you load up on the Vitamin C in your body, it would help in making your body’s defense mechanism against germs a lot better. It would help kill the cold causing germs, thus helping you to heal faster.
You could also load up on Vitamin C as a preventive measure and help to get rid of a cold. When you have more than the daily requirement of your Vitamin C, it would help prevent any common virus from attacking your body that very easily. You can get your daily dose of vitamin C either from fresh citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and strawberries or you can just get Vitamin C supplements at any pharmacy store.
8.) Drink The Tea of Echinacea
The tea of Echinacea can be used more as a preventive measure also. When you feel that you are going to succumb to a bout of the common cold, then this would be the best time to get a few bags of the Echinacea tea. This tea works similar to Vitamin C in building the immunity of your body. With regular consumption of the Echinacea tea, you would not succumb to the common cold or any other ailment that very easily. Drinking this tea after catching the cold will help your body fight the germs faster and get rid of a cold faster. This tea is also highly recommended for other viral infections like cold sores and even sore throat.
9.) Chew Sage’s Basil
Indian Basil or the Sage’s Basil is also one of the most effective for remedies to get rid of a cold fast and overnight. This particular herb is still used in traditional medicine making in most of the South Asian countries and it is still a popular home remedy in most homes across India.
This particular herb is used as a home remedy to treat many ailments. Many believe that eating just a few leaves of this plant everyday in the morning will help make your immunity better. The Sage’s basil is also a very effective remedy for getting rid of a common cold. You can either eat the leaves the way they are or make an infusion with hot water. The sage’s basil tea is very helpful in fighting the cold, fever and any other bacterial or viral infections.
10.) Zinc Will Help
Zinc can also be used to not only curb your cold spells shorter, but also to ensure that you do not get affected by the cold anymore. Zinc, particularly helps your body by affecting the cold producing virus itself. This is the only element that can actually cut the reproductive function of the virus. It is also effective in protecting your cell membranes by blocking them completely.
This ensures that the virus cannot latch itself onto any of your cell membranes to infect you. Currently you can not only get zinc as supplements in the pharmacies, but you can also get them as cough syrups and throat lozenges as well. To have zinc work really very effectively in your body, make certain that you consume some of it just as you feel that there could be an onset of the infection. Taking zinc within the first 24 hours of catching a cold will make a lot of difference.
11.) Take Elderberry Syrup
Elderberries are also known to effectively get rid of a cold overnight and faster. This particular home remedy is one that is very famous in many European countries. This particular syrup can be used not only to fight the cold but can also be used as a preventive measure. This syrup will help build your immunity, thus protecting you from falling sick often.
You can either get the readily available elderberry syrup from the pharmacy or you can make this syrup yourself. To make the syrup at home, all you would need is few elderberries and a cup of water. Boil the berries in the cup of water and let it reduce in quantity. With time the reduction would resemble a thick tonic. Strain this syrup and preserve it in a glass bottle. Drink a teaspoon of this syrup everyday for best results.
12.) Have The Honey
Honey has been yet another effective anti-viral that can help you fight any viral infection really very easily. Once you have caught a cold, make sure you drink a tablespoon of raw honey once in the morning and once before bedtime. If with pills such a cold would only leave your body after a week, honey would make the cold leave you in less than three days. Remember to look for honey that has not been processed and pasteurized. Get honey directly from a farm where they rear bees and harvest honey. When honey goes through the various stages of processing, it tends to lose much of its antiviral properties. Remember that the fresh and raw honey would have a very strong flavor unlike the processed honey. It will also be a lot thicker and slightly darker too. Raw honey can also be used to fight various allergies as well.
13.) Gargle With Salt Water
Gargling with salt water not only helps cure a sore throat but it also helps get rid of a cold quickly. The process of gargling is very easy. All you have to do is dissolve a tablespoon of salt in a glass of warm water, pour it into your mouth, swish it across your mouth and gargle at the throat to effectively kill the virus that is lodged in your throat and the sinus cavities.
The salt would also help ease and soothe the inflammation that can be found in the throat. This salt water gargle has to be repeated twice each day until all symptoms of a common cold are gone. With this remedy, you can be rest assured that the virus would leave your system soon. Salt in the garble would absorb the mucus from the sinus cavities. When it does so, it would also remove the virus along with it.
14.) Have The Chicken Soup
Chicken soup is also one of the most awesome remedies used to get rid of a cold quickly. It is rich in essential vitamins and nutrients that fight off the symptoms of colds. What you have to do is prepare a bowl of chicken soup and have it. There are chicken soups available in the market and you can also find ready to cook soups. But, it is better that you go for completely home-made chicken soup that has organic vegetables and chicken.
15.) Drink The Turmeric Milk
You don’t have to go for plain milk and can add a few ingredients to it to enhance the qualities of milk. You just have to add turmeric and ginger powder to it. It helps get rid of cough and a cold. It also helps get rid of aches and mucus. What you have to do is, boil a cup of water and add half teaspoon of each turmeric powder and ginger powder to it. Mix it well and allow it to cool on room temperature. Drink it twice a day for best results.
16.) Use Pepper and Rum
Another commonly used remedy for cold would be rum and pepper. Rum as we all know was used for medicinal purposes, when it was first found. Later on, this alcoholic beverage became famous for its intoxicating properties. The intoxication property is what is most important in curing the cold. Such an intoxication property will help you sleep very effectively. When you sleep, your body can produce and direct white blood cells to trap and kill the cold causing virus. Apart from the “enabling you to sleep” property, the alcohol in the rum can also kill the virus by itself. When you add pepper to the rum, it helps build immunity, fight of the virus and help you sleep well.
17.) Cinnamon Have Effect
Cinnamon is also one of the most amazing remedies for cold treatment. You can also go for cinnamon to get rid of a cold. It has properties that help fight off the symptoms of common cold. It also helps get rid of sore throat as well. You just have to prepare cinnamon tea and you will be able to cure cold. What you have to do is, boil a glass of water and add two cinnamon sticks to it. Cover it with a lid and steep for 10 minutes. Now, strain the tea and add a teaspoon of honey to it. Drink this thrice a day for best results. Alternatively, take a few drops of cinnamon bark oil and mix it with some honey and sip it.
18.) Drink The Warm Teas
Apart from drinking Echinacea tea, you can also drink a lot of warm green tea or black tea to get rid of a cold. When you drink the tea warm, it helps soothe the inflamed throat and the sinuses. The anti-oxidant properties found both in green and white tea will help in killing the virus and flushing it out of your body.
To get the most out of such tea, it would be best if you could mix some lemon juice to it. Adding lemon juice would increase the amount of anti-oxidants found in the tea and help build your immunity since lemons are rich in vitamin c. With the help of a cup of lemon green tea, you can now build your immunity, fight the virus better and flush it out efficiently from within your body.
19.) Keep Yourself Hydrate
When you are down with a cold and if you need to get rid of a cold really very soon, then you have to make certain that you drink a lot of water. It would be best to drink the water warm since it will help ease the pain in your throat. Make sure that you drink anywhere between three and four liters per day when you are suffering from cold.
This would not only help hydrate your body, but would also help flush out the toxins and the viruses that could be within your system. Drinking the water warm would also enable in opening the pores in your skin better to cleanse your system more efficiently.
20.) Take a Shot With Red Onions
Red Onion can be used to get rid of a cold. What you have to do is make a syrup with red onion. To make the syrup, follow the steps:
- Slice two red onions and add honey in a bowl.
- Now leave it for 15 minutes and you will get a thick syrup.
- Now have a teaspoon of syrup several times a day and cure a cold.
21.) Use The Cloves
You can also go for cloves to treat a cold well. What you have to do is prepare a tea using cloves and cinnamon. What you have to do is, boil a cup of water and add a teaspoon of cinnamon powder to it also add two cloves to it. Boil for 15 minutes, strain the tea and drink it. You can also add a teaspoon of honey to it. Drink it thrice a day and your get rid of a cold.
22.) Use The Lemon Power
Lemonade is not meant only for the summer. Perhaps for the summer you can have the cold lemonade while for the flu and the common cold, you or someone in your house can whip up a really tasty warm lemonade for you. This is a better alternative to drinking just the plain and boring warm water. Warm lemonade would give a better flavor that just the plain warm water and the Vitamin C content in the lemonade would help build your immunity better to fight the infection sooner.
To make things more interesting and much more beneficial for you, sweeten this warm lemonade with some raw and unprocessed honey. Now the lemon will help build your immunity while the honey will help kill the virus with its anti-viral property. This refreshing drink, which is beneficial to your system will help to get rid of a cold really very soon.
23.) Maintain The Humidity
Humidity actually works wonders when it comes to clearing your cold, cough and fever. When your surroundings are humid, the pores on your skin would tend to open well enough to help sweat better. When you are sweating, your body would send out all the toxins that has been accumulating inside. Such an episode of sweating would also help in sending out the virus that has been causing the cold. If your surroundings are not naturally humid, then it would be best to invest in a humidifier.
Humidifiers are well known to keep the air around you very moist. This would help the sinus and the nasal tract to remain moist, thereby bringing out the mucus even better. Just remember to keep this contraption clean since it is known to be a good breeding ground for bacteria and viruses.
24.) Irrigate Nasal Passage
You can also irrigate your nasal passage to get rid of the mucus, the cold causing germs and help in breathing. When we say irrigation, do not let your imagination wander to the extent of farming, cultivation and irrigation. This would be a slightly simpler process. For this you would need a bottle of saline solution, a neti pot or a pot with a long and slender spout and your nostrils.
For this process, you can either buy the saline solution from any pharmaceutical store or you can just make it at home. Take the saline solution and fill the neti pot. Next, place the end of the slender spout into your nostril and make certain that the spout is almost towards the end. Now tilt your head in the opposite direction and let the solution flow out.
The saline solution would have to go in through one nostril and come out the other. When it does, it would again dislodge all the mucus and bring it out. While irrigating the nasal passage, it would also cleanse the sinus areas and kill all the germs within.
25.) Protect Your Nose & Ears
The most common ailment that accompanies a common cold would be very runny nose. This annoying accompaniment makes us keep blowing it so very often that we actually end up skinning the tip or a major portion of the nose. Also, at times we blow our noses so hard that we actually end up hurting our ears.
This happens because of the amount of pressure we apply in trying to bring out the mucus. We are always under the impression that the harder we blow, more would be the mucus that comes out. However, is not true. When we blow our noses really very hard, we tend to push air out. This usually leads to a click in the ear and then a throbbing ear pain, even after the cold is gone. Cold and runny nose by themselves are difficult enough to handle. You really do not need to add ear pain to that. So blow your nose slowly to protect the skin on your nose and your ears.
26.) Take a Break From Work
When you have come down with a cold or flu, it would be best to skip work or school at least for the next three days. This would make certain that you get enough time to rest your body and also make certain that someone else in your class or your office does not catch the same infection from you.
Always remember that the flu and the common cold are ailments that are very contagious. They spread even by shaking hands with someone. Unless you can promise that you would not infect anyone at work or school, you cannot leave your house.
27.) Take Proper Rest
When you are down with flu or a cold, it is very important that you spend a lot of time in bed. Do not involve in anything that would strain your body. You need the energy for your body to fight the infection. When you rest, your body can just concentrate on the important action of fighting the infection and help to get rid of a cold.
Every time you take your pills, always make it a point to go back to sleep. Sleep for a few hours at a time. This would help the antibiotics in your body to work better. Make certain that the rest sessions are extended through the day and that you do not get to do anything that is very strenuous.
28.) Do Some Jumping Jacks
One of the best remedies for your cold would be some really vigorous exercise that involves a lot of jumping. Any sport like football or basketball can do the trick, but that would also mean that you would have to exert your body a lot.
So to make things a lot easier just stick to doing about 10 to 20 jumping jacks. When you tend to jump, the mucus in the nasal passage and the sinus passage dislodge themselves easily. This would bring out the mucus in torrents that you can be easily removed with just one blow. Every time you blow your nose, you would have to remember to wash your hands with a medicated soap so as not to infect anyone else, or yourself after some time. Jumping jacks done immediately after a nice steam bath would actually work wonders in clearing out your cold.
29.) Wash Your Bed Sheets
When you are down in the dumps with a cold and looking for ways to get rid of it sooner, you would then have to watch what you sleep upon. When affected by the common cold, it would be best to clean your bed sheets and pillow cases once every two days. If your sheets have residual sweat, then there is a high possibility that there are a lot of germs in it.
By changing your sheets once every two days, you are removing the possible breeding grounds of the virus and not let it be around for you to get affected later. It is not enough that you remove the bed sheets once every two days, but it is more important to make certain that it is washed immediately in hot water and a strong disinfectant.
30.) Use The Nasal Spray
One of the best remedies that can help ease the irritation of the cold and get rid of a cold really fast would be nasal sprays. You can now even find nasal sprays that are one hundred percent natural. All you would have to do is open the bottle, place the nozzle deep within your nasal passage, press the bottle and simultaneously breathe in the spray.
These sprays come with a combination of medicines that can effectively combat viruses that cause the common cold and flu. The trick to getting more out of such sprays depends upon your learning how well to breathe in while pumping the contents into your nostril.
31.) Fruit Mixture Will Help
One refreshing and tasty treat that can help you get rid of a cold soon would be the choicest fruit mixture that you can easily make at home. Since the old adage mentions an apple a day to keep the doctor away, we shall take one apple, one cup of strawberries, juice of half a lemon, juice of two oranges, a tablespoon of vinegar, two tablespoons of raw honey and two cups of water.
You can put all these ingredients into a blender and blitz it really well. You can either drink the mixture just the way it is or you can pour it into a glass container to drink it later. If you like the taste of grapefruit, then you can also add a glass of grapefruit juice to this mixture. This mixture is power packed with vitamin c and is very lethal to any virus that causes a common cold. Even when you are not suffering from common cold, a glass of this juice each day will keep the cold and flu at bay.