The Best Home Remedies Against Cough
Home remedies against coughing were already used in granny’s time – and for good reason! With these gentle and natural remedies you will get rid of your cough.
Coughing is always inconvenient – and we want to get rid of it as quickly as possible. Usually a dry irritable cough develops first, a few days later the mucus in the respiratory tract dissolves and can be coughed up (cough with sputum). Although we often find this unpleasant, the coughing stimulus is a useful protective reflex of the body: with the mucus we cough up the pathogens.
Home remedy for cough: What helps?
This does not mean, of course, that we have to be bothered by the symptoms for weeks – especially not when a severe cough is keeping us from our restful sleep. These home remedies for coughs help to gently relieve the symptoms:
Inhalation
Inhalation is suitable for soothing irritable coughs as well as for loosening mucus during productive coughing. The easiest way to do this is with an inhaler – all you need to do is fill it with a little water, then breathe in and out calmly and deeply. If you don’t have an inhaler, simply use a bowl, put a towel over your head and then breathe in the steam. This should be repeated about every three hours.
Extra tip: If you have a chesty cough, an infusion of sage will help you inhale. The plant soothes the mucous membranes and relieves the irritation of the cough. In the case of a persistent cough, for example bronchitis or a cold, a few drops of an essential oil (e.g. menthol) are recommended to clear the airways. But beware – these oils are not suitable for children and asthmatics!
Potato wrap
Chest compresses are probably one of the oldest household remedies for coughs and colds. For this, potatoes are boiled, wrapped in a linen cloth and crushed. As soon as the potato wrap has cooled down to a pleasant temperature, it can be placed on the chest and fixed with another cloth. The wrap provides pleasant warmth. By the way, it is also a good home remedy for sore throats and a home remedy for fever!
Tea
The basic rule for coughing is: Drink a lot! You are welcome to drink 2.5 to 3 litres a day. Above all water, but also tea with herbs, especially these types:
- Chamomile
- Marshmallow
- Thyme
- Icelandic moss
- Ribwort Plantain
The herbs gently relieve cough irritation and act as a mucus solution. And tea can do even more: it also helps as a household remedy against colds!
Onion syrup
Sounds a bit disgusting at first, but thanks to the addition of honey or sugar it doesn’t taste bad at all and is effective against chesty coughs: chop an onion into small pieces, sprinkle it with honey or a little sugar and seal the mixture in an airtight glass. The juice should steep for several hours, but preferably overnight. Then take one spoonful each in the morning, at noon and in the evening.
Cough sweets
Cough sweets can work in two ways: they either soothe the irritation of the cough or promote the expectoration. To relieve irritated coughs, the sweets usually contain essential oils that stimulate the flow of saliva. An acute coughing attack can thus be calmed. In order to make it easier to cough up, cough sweets often contain herbal mixtures (e.g. of thyme or sage) to make the mucus more fluid.