I have heard nothing but coughing and spluttering this week! At the yoga studio, the store, and definitely on set, there’s at least one or two people with some kind of virus – tis the season, right? The Best Cold & Sinus Remedies for both prevention and dealing with symptoms concern themselves with cleaning and opening your nasal passageways – not the most glamorous subject I know, but an important one when it comes to winter viruses.
Prevention: I use a Neti Pot all year round, but especially in the winter. It cleanses, refreshes, irrigates and protects nasal passageways, which are our first line of defense against viruses. You can get a regular ceramic or plastic Neti Pot from almost any drug store or health store, but I actually prefer the Nasopure bottle, which makes the process a lot less clumsy, and is really easy to travel with. The Nasopure Wash Salt Mixture is pharmaceutical grade sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate and comes in buffered salt packets so the solution is always the perfect mix.
It sounds obvious, but one of the Best Cold & Sinus Remedies is to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of filtered water daily. This keeps your mucus membranes moist and thus healthy. If you don’t have a whole home water filtration system, I recommend grabbing yourself one of my favorite Mavea Filtration Pitchers.
Care: If you already have a virus, or feel one coming on, I highly recommend an old fashioned inhalation. I use a number of different essential oils for their anti-viral properties. If you don’t have an inhalation/steamer device, you can go old school by pouring 2 cups of boiling water in a large bowl, adding a few drops of essential oil (5 drops rosemary, 5 drops white thyme or eucalyptus, and 10 drops lavender), and covering with a towel. When you are ready, place your face a few inches above the steam with the towel over your head to prevent the steam escaping. I have the most brilliant steam inhaler from Boots chemist in the UK, which is very low-tech and requires no electricity (I always grab a couple for friends when I go there), but you could also try the Respiratory Steam Inhaler from the Sharper Image, to which you can add essential oils.
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