Change in season can be a very rough time for everyone especially children, senior people and those with a less strong immune. With humidity giving way to the dry season, the most common ailment is the common cold accompanied with a sore throat. Although the cold goes away in about a week, the sore throat gives in to a dry cough as a telltale sign of sickness healed. In such times we all look at a non-medical easy to administer a home remedies for dry cough.
Dry cough can be very annoying. It can literally carry you away from your drift in the middle of a meeting or a phone call. It’s a huge distraction in noise-free lecture halls in schools and colleges but the peskiest is the kind which comes to haunt you at night and shakes up the whole household.
We may all agree that all aches and pains return to make our sleep unrestful after leaving us exasperated all day. A dry cough is one of those which even disturb our sleeping partners or worse; the whole family.
There are a few things from common lore which work like the best remedy for a dry cough when taken right before bedtime.
1. Jaggery – Jaggery For Dry Cough
Pure jaggery if taken as the last item just before you fall asleep works wonders for a dry cough. You only have to remember not to eat or drink anything after popping a candy size bit of jaggery into your mouth and sucking on it just as you would a lozenge.
This probably layers the frizzled inner throat with a coat of relieving jaggery syrup. This helps you fall asleep without any disturbance.
2. Ginger – Home Remedies For Dry Cough
Ginger has always been well known for its various medicinal properties, one of them being the ability to ease a dry cough. You can actually ingest a few drops of ginger juice if you are brave enough or have herbal ginger tea or ginger milk tea without sugar at bedtime to feel free of a dry cough.
3. Honey
Honey has antibacterial qualities. Taking a teaspoon or two of pure honey at bedtime has been known to correct a dry cough among children as well as adults. Honey can also be taken with any herbal tea or warm water for the same purpose. It coats the throat and lets you have a more restful sleep.
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4. Turmeric
Everyone knows about the healing properties of turmeric. When taken as a tea it cures dry cough. To prepare such tea, add a tablespoon of pure powdered turmeric to four cups of boiling water. Simmer for a couple of minutes, drain and sip before bed. For even better results add some black pepper to this concoction.
5. Black Cardamom – Home Remedies For Dry Cough
This might sound like a rare remedy for dry cough. Black cardamom (Badi elaichi) is an antioxidant and the oil from its seeds has antiseptic properties which instantly relieve a dry cough. Take a few pieces of black cardamom and roast them whole over a griddle on low flame. After removing the roaster outer shell, finely grind the roasted seeds.
Take about 10 grams of this powder in a spoon and mix with honey for easy ingestion. When taken right before bedtime, this home remedy for a dry cough proves to be wonderful.
6. Soup/Broth
What better than to sip on a bowl of hot soup to heal a dry cough. Shredded chicken soup, herbs such as ginger and garlic in a mutton stock or vegetable stock or simply your favorite man chow soup with all its authentic ingredients can be very helpful in case of dry cough at night.
7. Herbal Tea – Home Remedies For Dry Cough
Sipping on any warm liquid can give temporary relief in a dry cough. Apart from the types of tea already discussed in this article, there are a few speciality herbal teas which are proven remedies for a dry cough –
- Licorice Root Tea
- Marshmallow Root Tea
- Thyme Tea
- Peppermint Tea
All these home remedies for dry cough are a compilation of collective knowledge from ages ago. Their effect is widely accepted and appreciated although there are always a few exceptions depending on person to person. If you feel up to it then go ahead and try one of these and do share the results with us. As far as I am concerned, black cardamom is the go-to remedy for me.
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Caution: In no way should the remedies listed here be taken for professional medical advice in the common cold or flu, especially not in Covid-19 season.