Top Tips to Beat a Cold Naturally

When you're coughing, sneezing, sweating and full of cold, you're losing liquids all the time and need to replace them. The mucus in your lungs, nose and rest of your respiratory system relies on your body having adequate levels of fluids to maintain itself and absorb oxygen effectively.

So you need to keep yourself topped up with drinks, all the time, all day.

Now if you choose what you drink carefully you can help yourself even further.

Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into a mug, top up with hot water and add honey until it tastes ok. The lemon is packed with vitamin C and anti-oxidants which will help you fight off the cold. The honey has healing properties and will help sooth your throat too. If you can get manuka honey and use that then it's even better than regular honey. I know someone who adds a dash of cayenne pepper to her lemon drink to give it some extra kick!

Try to avoid milky drinks as these can cause more mucous production and make you feel even more bunged up. But drink as much as you can as often as you can. Fruit juice is ideal, full of vitamins, but if you're wanting hot drinks then either dilute apple juice with hot water, up to half and half or make up a high juice squash or cordial with hot water.

Yes, your feet, the soles of your feet.

No, seriously. I'm not kidding.

You know that smelly vapo-rub stuff you slather on your chest and it makes your eyes water and it's so overpowering after a few minutes lying in bed with the fumes gathering round your head? Or maybe you use olbas oil, or another essential oil based decongestant or even a freshly squeezed clove of garlic. Whatever you use, it's the decongestant properties of the oils that you're using and they do work well on your chest, or inhaled in steam.

But, surprisingly, they also work well if you rub them onto the soles of your feet and then put socks on. The socks help keep the oils warm on your feet and keep them from staining bedding too.

The idea is that the massage and the oils work on the acupressure/reflexology points on your feet to clear your blockages through the sinuses and throat - and it works, I know you're sitting there looking sceptical and waiting for a punch line, but it really does work.

Try it, just try it once and see what happens.

Of course you may feel you need something to help you deal with this viral invasion and you may start looking at the paracetamol, decongestant drinks and other over the counter medication. There will be times that these are needed to clobber a particularly bed headache when you don't have the freedom to just go and curl up in bed until it goes away and that's what these medicines are there for. But in my opinion they are overused, we hit the chemicals without giving our own wonderful immune systems time to act and build up a decent resistance to these bugs.

There are gentler remedies you can try first and many people have found they work really well.

Echinacea is a common remedy suggested when you get that first roughness at the back of your throat and you just know a cold is settling in. It's available in various forms - drops, liquid, tablets and tea - so pick the one you can take easily and it will help support your immune system and assist you coping with your viral load.

Aromatherapy can also help and by choosing a selection of essential oils or blends you can help yourself breathe more easily and prevent any secondary infection as well as making your home smell lovely which will help you feel better. Tea tree is excellent as an anti-bacterial cleanser and I use it in solution to clean round the home. Other oils will act as decongestants and you may need to consult a qualified aromatherapist to work out which combination is best for you. But you can also find commercial products such as karvol and vicks vapour rub that are essential oil based and they will work well.

Homeopathy can also help but you really should consult a qualified homeopath before self treating.