6 natural remedies to relieve a sore throat and stop it from worsening

Here's how you can prevent a sore throat from progressing into a cough.

Anusuya Suresh | Updated: July 15, 2015 6:53 pm

If you feel that itchy, scratchy feeling in your throat, its most likely it is the onset of a sore throat. While it might seem minor, it is best to stop its progression to a cough. But a sore throat on its own can be quite irritating and affect your daily life. So, to help you tide over the symptoms of a sore throat, here are a few tips to relieve the discomfort and stop its progression to a cough.

Gargle with salt and warm water ^[1]

Boil water and mix in a little rock salt into it. Cool down to a temperature that feels comfortably warm to your throat and gargle with this water. Almost immediately, you will find relief from the scratchy sensation in the throat. Sometimes, if there is a little phlegm lodged within the throat cavity, you’ll find that it becomes easier to bring it up and spit out after a salt water gargle. If you feel a slight pain in the throat along with the itchy sensation, gargling with a dispersible aspirin tablet dissolved in water may also help. Aspirin has anti-inflammatory action and this will reduce the swelling in the throat that is responsible for the pain to give you relief. You can read more about how salt water gargling helps beat a sore throat.

Inhale steam ^[2]

Often, a sore throat is accompanied by a feeling of nasal congestion; if you manage to get rid of the secretions that have collected in your nose, you can keep cough at bay. The best way to do this is to expose your nasal passage and throat to warm and moist air. Inhaling steam is very useful to clear up the mucus accumulated in the nasal passages. Having a hot shower will also help. Adding a little aromatic substance such as tincture of benzoin, eucalyptus oil or even a vaporub into the liquid you heat for inhalation or into your bath water can also help provide a soothing effect.

Stay sufficiently hydrated

When the mucus membranes in your throat dry out, they tend to cause irritation which may later turn into a cough. So make sure you drink enough fluids to keep the membranes sufficiently moist. ^[3] In some people, a cold can result in excessive secretions from the nose trickling down the throat – a condition called as a postnasal drip. If these secretions are thick, they tend to lodge within the tissues in the back of the throat and can lead to cough. Fluids help reduce the viscosity of these secretions, making it easier for them to drain down the throat into the alimentary canal and out of the body. You may also like to read about the consequences of not drinking enough water.

Drink warm liquids

Heat is great to dislodge the mucus collected in your nose and throat and reduces the inflammation that is responsible for a sore throat.^[4]So any warm liquid will work to help keep cough away. Things like hot water, rasam, hot soup, tea or your grandmother’s kashaaya – all work on the same principle. Soup, tea and kashaaya are better than plain water because their action is fortified by the healing herbs used in the preparation. Ginger, pepper, honey, garlic, tulsi and turmeric [5] are known to have antibacterial and expectorant properties that help prevent a sore throat from progressing to a cough.

Suck on a lozenge ^[6]

Any lozenge that contains menthol helps to numb the back of your throat, in turn relieving the irritation and discomfort that comes with a sore throat. Apart from that sucking on lozenges helps reduce the stimulation of the nerve endings in your throat, decreasing the cough reflex. As a natural remedy, try having some honey with ginger juice to relieve that itchiness at the back of your throat. Wondering if lozenges actually work? Well, here’s the answer.

Stay away from irritants ^[7]

When exposed to irritants, a person who has just a mild sore throat will quickly develop a cough. To avoid this, stay away from irritants such as cigarette smoke and avoid exposure to polluted air. Cut down on the use of bathroom sprays, air fresheners or perfumes that can irritate the sinus membranes and lead to increased mucus production that in turn causes cough.

There are people who develop a sore throat with the mildest changes in weather and there are those who get caught in a downpour and still don’t sneeze even once. The difference is simply this – how well an individual’s immune system functions. So keeping cough away is not just about the immediate measures you can take to stop a sore throat turning into a cough; it is equally about giving yourself the right nutrition to keep your immune system in top condition. Make sure you get enough vitamins and minerals through your food. Exercise on a regular basis. And you are sure to feel healthier all year round.

Image source: Getty Images

Published: July 15, 2015 6:50 pm | Updated:July 15, 2015 6:53 pm

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