5 Simple Remedies For Restless Cough

It’s miserable to suffer through the half a dozen colds you’re likely to catch this year. The weather changes – you catch a cold. Your child brings home the cooties – you catch a cold. In fact, the variables are endless. In families with children in school, the number of colds per child can be as high as 12 a year. Adults average about 2 to 4 colds a year. Women, especially those aged 20 to 30 years, suffer more than men, possibly because of their closer contact with little ones, experts say.

As if a runny nose, fever, or even a migraine wasn’t bad enough, in most cases, sufferers experience a restless, dry cough – one that can keep you up at night! So, what can you do? Here are 5 simple remedies for a restless cough.

Push the fluids.

When your body is fighting cold-related symptoms such as a fever, it loses more water than usual. Step your fluid game up to both coat your throat and prevent dehydration.

Tip: Opt for oral rehydration solutions consisting of a mixture of water and salt that helps replenish necessary fluids and electrolytes.

Try a spoonful of honey.

Studies show that honey is better than cough medicine for relieving a restless cough. Even better? It’s gentle enough for kids. “In a comparison of honey, DM, and no treatment, parents rated honey most favorably for symptomatic relief of their child’s nocturnal cough and sleep difficulty due to upper respiratory tract infection. Honey may be a preferable treatment for the cough and sleep difficulty associated with childhood upper respiratory tract infection,” according to the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

Tip: For children ages 1 to 5, give half a teaspoon. Meanwhile, ages 6 to 11 can consume one teaspoon. But never give honey to babies’ younger than 1; they can get botulism, a rare poisoning caused by toxins from bacteria typically found in honey.