If you have had a sore throat when you were a kid, which most of us have, then you will probably remember an adult telling you to gargle with warm salt water to help your sore throat. This actually works well! It doesn’t cure the cause of your sore throat, but it will definitely help you feel better after you try it.
The warm water helps to relax the muscles and tissue in the back of your throat, helping them feel better. The act of gargling also helps you to relax because if you aren’t relaxed, it won’t work properly. The salt in the water helps make it more like your natural body fluid, lubricating your throat, as well as helping to kill some of the bacteria that might be adding to your symptoms.
A lot of the time, a sore throat can be caused by a change in weather or chronic dry weather. If it’s a dry, hot summer, or a dry, cold winter, either can cause a sore throat. Along with the change in pressure outside and everything associated with changing seasons, a sore throat is almost inevitable.
One way to help combat this dry air is to invest in a humidifier and run it next to your bed when you sleep or by your desk at work. If you are taking a sick day home and are spending it on the couch, go ahead and run the humidifier by the couch as well. Remember to clean it out to prevent mold and bacteria growth in the unit.
Cough drops or throat lozenges help soothe sore throats because of active ingredients that cool or numb the throat to ease any pain or tickling you might be feeling in your throat. But, if you don’t have any of those handy, you can use just about any kind of hard candy to get a similar effect.
Peppermint drops, butterscotch candies, lollipops, even Jolly Ranchers could help out your sore throat. This is because the hard candies signal to your body to create more saliva to break them down and eat them, and as they dissolve in your mouth, they don’t scratch on the way down, coating your throat in saliva. This doesn’t sound pretty, but it can help you find some relief from your sore throat.
Is there anything more comforting than a bowl of warm soup when you are sick? Soup not only warms the soul and makes you feel all cozy inside, but it can also really help with your sore throat. When you have a sore throat, it can be hard to eat, especially crunchy foods like crackers or pretzels, because they can scratch your throat.
Most soups won’t give you that same problem, and many can even help your throat feel less sore when you eat them. This is because warm soup helps relax your throat, and if it is brothy, that broth helps to lubricate your throat, helping it to feel better. It has a similar effect to a relaxing, warm bath.
If you are having trouble eating foods that aren’t soft while you have a sore throat but want to mix it up by not just eating warm soup, try a popsicle! Cold foods can also help your sore throat feel better because it acts as an ice pack for your throat.
If you are wanting something sweet, the best sweets for your throat would be to have hard candies and popsicles. You could even have ice cream! You have to be careful with ice cream, though, since sometimes they can contain bits and pieces that could hurt your throat, like cookie pieces.
Sometimes your sore throat can be caused by irritants in your environment. Dry air can definitely be a cause of a sore throat. Pet hair, dust, pollen, and other common allergens could cause an allergic reaction that makes your throat hurt. Smoking or breathing in secondhand smoke can also cause a sore throat. Even cleaning products or products high in fragrance can irritate your throat!
Because these things either caused your sore throat or can cause a sore throat, it would be a good idea to avoid them. They can make your sore throat worse and make it last longer than it should. So, it is best to hold off on cleaning your bathroom until you feel better or wait on dusting and vacuuming which can kick up allergens in your home. And for several reasons, you should avoid smoking.
Just like a warm bowl of soup, a hot cup of tea feels really great on your throat. Not only does the warmth and hydration make you feel better, but there are several teas that can actually help your body fight off the virus or bacteria that might be causing this symptom and also help your body repair itself to help you feel better faster.
Now, tea doesn’t take the place of medicine given to you by a doctor, but it can really help out several of your symptoms. Slippery elm, licorice root, horehound, chamomile, turmeric, and green teas have all been used for centuries to help sore throats. If you add honey to your tea, you could also be aiding in the anti-bacterial benefits of tea since raw honey is naturally antimicrobial. Be sure to get raw, local honey to get the added benefit of mild pollen exposure in your local area, which is a good thing!
If you are really adventurous, you could add cayenne pepper to your tea. The way spicy food reacts with your body is like a natural pain reliever. It sounds weird since spicy food sometimes feels really overwhelming, but that’s what it does! Have you ever eaten something so spicy that you can’t feel your tongue? It’s the same principle.
If you don’t want to drink spicy tea, add hot sauce or spicy peppers to your soup. Get creative! If you like Indian food, some types of Indian foods could be soft enough to not scratch your throat but will really bring in the heat to help your throat feel better.
Not everyone has a humidifier in their home, but most everyone has a shower. Taking a steamy shower will help your throat for several of the reasons we have already mentioned above. Hot showers are really relaxing, and the warmth can help ease any tension that you are holding in your neck that could be making your sore throat worse.
The steam from the shower also has amazing benefits for your sore throat. It will help hydrate your throat and soothe any pain that you may be feeling. If you don’t have a shower, taking a washcloth, running it under hot water, and placing it to your face and breathing deep will feel amazing, possibly even better than the shower. With all of this hot water, be careful not to use water that can burn you!
A lot of the time, sore throats are caused by postnasal drip. Postnasal drip is when liquid from your nose or nasal cavities drain into your throat. This usually happens when you are also experiencing congestion, but sometimes it happens before you notice your stuffy nose. If you have a sore throat for this reason, you will sometimes notice that it is worse in the morning.
Postnasal drip can make your throat feel worse when your head is laying down when you sleep. Sleeping with one pillow or no pillow at all are the positions that you want to avoid when you are experiencing postnasal drip. Instead, make sure that your head is elevated, especially when you sleep. Add an extra pillow or two when you sleep to prevent postnasal drip from causing a sore throat.
If it hurts for you to talk, that is your body’s way of telling you to be quiet! Talking requires a lot of moving parts in your throat, and if there is any inflammation, that can cause your voice to sound different or even make it hurt when you talk.
Forcing yourself to talk when it hurts or when your voice is different because you’re sick can make the inflammation and pain worse. The best way to help yourself get better is to not talk! Like we have mentioned, talking will make it worse, causing your sore throat to go on longer than you want.
If you have taken a hot shower, stopped talking, had tea, and rested, but your throat still hurts, take some medicine. The best medicine for pain because of a sore throat is acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Acetaminophen is the scientific name for Tylenol and ibuprofen is the scientific name for Advil.
Keep in mind that these pain medications are not meant to cure your sore throat, they only help with the symptoms of pain and fever. The cure for most sore throats is simply to keep doing these symptom managers and wait it out, but if your sore throat starts to get worrisome, please go see a doctor to get the proper remedies to cure your sore throat.
Drinking tea, starting the humidifier, taking a warm shower, and eating soup will all help you to hydrate, which is always important, but it is especially important when you are sick or have a sore throat. When you have a sore throat, sometimes the last thing you want to do is to drink or eat as swallowing can irritate your throat, but hydration is so important.
Stay hydrated any way you can while you are sick. Drink plenty of water and tea, and eat foods with high liquid contents, like soup, to help with hydration as well. Keeping your throat lubricated is your body’s best defense against a sore throat, and it can only do that as long as you keep hydrating!
Resting may not be the most entertaining thing to do when you are sick, but it is by far one of the best things to do when you are sick. It not only feels good to get much-needed rest, but it is also good for your body. By resting, you are limiting the amount of energy that your body needs to spend.
When your body spends less energy walking, talking, and thinking, it can work on fighting off the infection or virus that is causing your sore throat and repairing any damaged tissues. It helps you feel better faster by simply doing nothing. You have a free pass to nap as much as you want when you are sick!
The most important remedy for a sore throat that just won’t go away is to see a doctor. According to the Mayo Clinic, you should see a doctor for your sore throat if you are experiencing difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing, difficulty opening your mouth, joint pain, an earache, a rash, or a high fever over 101 degrees Fahrenheit.
They say you should also see a doctor if your sore throat lasts longer than a week or is severe, if you have blood in your saliva or phlegm, if your sore throats are recurring, if there is an unfamiliar lump in your neck, if you are hoarse for more than two weeks, or if you have noticeable swelling in your neck or face. At your visit with the doctor, they will then put you on the right path to curing whatever is causing your sore throat.
