The Flu

Flu symptoms can cause misery, from fever and cough to sore throat, nasal congestion, aches, and chills. But there are ways to feel better.

Prescription antiviral drugs may ease flu symptoms shortly after you get sick. In many cases, however, simple home remedies may be all you need to relieve mild to moderate flu symptoms.

Here are1 0 natural remedies for the flu:

1. Drink up. The flu can dehydrate, especially if you have vomiting or diarrhea. So be sure to get enough fluids. The water is fine. So are fruit juices and electrolyte beverages. You may want to avoid caffeinated drinks because caffeine is a diuretic. Herbal tea with honey can soothe a sore throat. If you feel nauseated, try taking small sips of liquids — gulps might cause you to throw up. How can you be sure you’re getting enough fluid? Your urine should be pale yellow, almost colorless.

How about drinking alcohol? No way. “When you have the flu, the last thing you want to do is drink alcohol,” says William Schaffner, MD, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. “It makes you sleepy, and flu does that already.”

2. Sip some soup. For generations, caring parents have been serving chicken soup to kids with colds and flu. But was mom right? Possibly. A study published in Chest journal showed that chicken soup might help with symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections like the flu.

“I believe that chicken soup does help with symptoms,” says Reid B. Blackwelder, MD, professor of family medicine at East Tennessee State University in Kingsport. But not all doctors agree that chemistry alone explains the soup’s apparent benefits. “When you lean over a bowl of hot chicken soup, and the vapor gets up your nose, you feel better,” Schaffner says. “But some [of the benefit] is emotional. It just makes you feel better-having someone make soup for you.”

3. Be a couch potato. Listen to your body. If it’s telling you not to exercise, don’t. If it’s urging you to spend all day in bed, do. Don’t press on with daily chores, even in the face of severe cold or flu symptoms. Rest is “another way of supporting the body’s ability to fight infection,” Blackwelder says.