When your cough syrup doesn't work, these remedies do

Every winter season we spend a lot of money on over-the-counter cough medicines and cough syrups. But you will be surprised to know that researchers from the American Chemical Society, looked at the systemic reviews and found that there is very little evidence that cough syrup is effective in treating coughs. And the clinical trials performed, show that these medications are generally no better than a placebo.

But we are so convinced that these medicines work that we buy them anyway. If you are a parent with a coughing child, you probably know what we are saying.

In fact, cough syrups can make the matters worse as they have some dangerous ingredients including artificial colours, artificial flavours, sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup.

Coughing is actually therapeutic. When you cough, your body is actually trying to eliminate mucus and foreign materials from your upper airway passages and lungs. A cough is a symptom and not a disease, so, once you can uncover the underlying cause, you can deal with it in a better way.

Productive cough

A productive cough produces mucus/phlegm and you should not suppress this type of cough because it helps to clear the mucus or phlegm. This type of cough is often associated with a viral illness like common cold, lung or upper airway infections (pneumonia, bronchitis), chronic lung disease, postnasal drip and smoking.

Non-productive cough

It occurs with common cold, bronchitis, allergies, asthma or exposure to environmental irritants.

So, what exactly works when you have a cough? All your Dadi ke gharelu nuske get a green light.

While coughing, you lose out on a lot of water from your body. Keeping yourself hydrated is of utmost importance in order to flush out toxins from the body.

Though this is not an age-old practice, it's very effective as it doesn't let your nose and throat get dry, which can make matters worse. People who have a sore thorat must try using a humidifier in their rooms.

Honey soothes the throat like nothing else and ginger has anti-inflammatory properties. Both the things in combination make for a perfect cough remedy.

Ginger works wonder for cold, cough and sore throat. If you are not a fan of adrak wali chai, you can simply grate some adrak in one glass of water and boil it for 2-3 minutes. Strain the water and add honey to it. You can store this magical concoction in a kettle and keep sipping it throughout the day. It will instantly soothe your sore throat.

There is nothing as easy as this one. Warm a glass of water and add 1/4 teaspoon of salt in it. Now gargle with this water two-three times in a day.

Sip on some chicken soup or mixed vegetable soups to give your runny nose some relief. Try to have homemade soups as the ones prepared in the market use cornflour to make it thick, which is not very healthy.