A sore throat is a painful infection that affects the throat. It is as a result of an inflammation of the pharynx causing many discomforts to the affected individual, including loss of voice, headache, running nose and painful swallowing. It is mostly caused by bacterial, viral or fungal infections but it can also be triggered by excessive shouting, colds and stress. Although it is best to go to the hospital and get a prescription from a doctor when you have an infection, sore throat can be dealt with using simple and natural home remedies. Some of these are:
- Salt and water: One of the commonest and proven ways to treat a sore throat is to gargle salt and water. Just add half a teaspoon of salt into a glass of warm water and swirl it around your throat. Salt acts as a natural antiseptic in getting rid of the microorganisms affecting the throat and the warm water helps in soothing it.
- Garlic: Although garlic smells and tastes funny, it still possesses certain medicinal properties. One of these is its antiseptic ability that helps in treating sore throat. Eat a raw clove of garlic daily until the sore throat gets better.
- Lemon and honey: Honey naturally has strong antiseptic properties and thus is very effective in killing certain bacteria and fungi. Lemon contains ascorbic acid and vitamin C which helps the body in healing quickly. Squeeze about one-half of a fresh lemon and mix with a teaspoon of honey, add this to a glass of warm water and drink it at least twice a day till your throat heals.
- Warm water: Avoid drinking cold water when you have a sore throat because it worsens it and increases the pain. It is best to drink warm water until the infection is gone. Gargle and drink warm water frequently so as to upset the environmental condition of the microbes causing the infection.
- Chicken soup: This is probably the most delicious way to treat a sore throat. Chicken soup when eaten hot can help to ease the pain of a sore throat. Although swallowing food might prove a little difficult, the spice, hotness and minerals contained in the chicken soup will help to get rid of the infection.
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