My New Year started with me being sick and I wasn’t the only one. Gursheel and most of my family started off the year with feeling pretty terrible so I want to share with you all 8 ways to feel better fast when you’re sick and cold!

1. Stay Hydrated

Drinking lots of water is something that always makes me feel great and it’s especially the case when you’re sick. When you are sick, your body temperature is higher and this means your body needs more fluids for optimal cell function. The more water you drink, the more efficient your body will be in helping you feel better. I recently started trying to wake up an hour earlier every morning and drinking an entire water bottle (my S’well one) once I get up. It actually makes me feel so much better!

2. Use a Humidifier

Back in Vancouver, where everyone was sick together, my brother in law brought over a humidifier that made me feel so so great. When I got back home to Toronto (where it was super cold and the air super dry), I would wake up every morning with my throat feeling so dry. It was the worst feeling. I would wake up in the middle of the night with the worst dry cough and although drinking lots of water helped, it almost meant I had to get up a lot to pee. A humidifier basically works by adding humidity to the air and prevents the air from being dry. Seriously, if you don’t have a humidifier, get one! It is one of my favourite adult purchases. This humidifier is the one we bought from Amazon.

3. Do Gargles 

In some warm water, mix in some salt and do gargles. They provide temporary relief to your throat and I love the taste of salty warm water!

4. Drink Lemon Ginger Honey Tea

This is my new favourite daily drink in the morning. It is so quick and easy to make and actually helps me feel better. Ginger is great at helping you get rid of toxins in your body and also helps with nausea. Honey is great at soothing sore throats and also makes the drink taste amazing. The combination of lemon, ginger and honey in hot water tastes amazing and is really great at helping you feel better fast when you’re sick and cold. To keep this vegan, use agave syrup or maple syrup as sweetener instead of honey!

5. Take Zinc and Emergen-C and Vitamin D Supplements

Among the many benefits of zinc, it is very good in boosting the immune system and treating the common cold. You will often find people telling you to take some zinc when you are sick. And it definitely provided me with some relief.

My younger sister had some Emergen-C packets at home and along with providing 1,000 mg of vitamin C (which has some immune-strenthening properties), it also tasted amazing and included B vitamins, zinc, and electrolytes. After drinking it, I felt a surge of energy. 

Sleep and rest is the one thing that helps you feel feel better fast when you’re sick and cold, but the thing we don’t do enough of. Sleep correlates with your immune systems performance and is always important, regardless of whether you are sick or not.

7. Stay Warm

I love being warm and sometimes it is so hard to feel warm when the temperature outside is -20’C. Yes, that was the temperature in Toronto when I got home from B.C., and it did not help with me recovering faster! So, if you live in a cold climate, the best thing is to invest in some pieces of clothing that will make you feel warm when you are outside.

My favourite way to stay warm is to layer! I like to wear a pair of leggings under my pants and wear a couple of layer of tops with a scarf on top. I don’t own a pair of shoes that are lined, so instead of going out and buying a pair of shoes like Blundstones (which I hear are amazing btw), I bought a pair of wool socks. When they arrived, I thought they looked awfully thin, but when I wore them, they were so warm. I normally would wear a couple of socks with my favourite pair of Sorel’s, however, with these wool socks, I didn’t need to and they kept my feet toasty warm!

8. Throat Sprays

My older sister had this zinc spray that she let me try. You just spray it into your throat and it provides relief to a sore throat. However, I did not like the taste of it so I didn’t try it again. But, I did find that it did work my providing relief.

Then a friend told me about this Beekeeper’s Naturals Propolis Spray which is made of propolis extract from bees. It is also made from bees from B.C. which I found to be super cool. Propolis is something bees collect from trees that helps protect them from bacteria and viruses. The best thing about it is the taste! It tastes good and works very well for throat relief. And it is alcohol free!

I hope some of these tips help you stay feeling amazing this cold/flu season and help you feel better fast when you’re sick and cold. Hopefully, you don’t get sick in the first place, but even if you’re not sick, these tips are still great for feeling great on a regular basis!

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Author: kamal

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