Winter time – cold time. Hardly anyone is spared from the annoying cold and cough. Especially at the first signs of a cold, inhalations with herbs or essential oils can relieve discomfort without side effects. However, inhalation cannot replace the doctor: In the case of prolonged discomfort with high fever and poor general condition, he must decide whether special medication must be given.
Coughing and sneezing are important
A cold, at least that is what the popular saying goes, lasts seven days, with medication a week. The common cold, also called a flu-like infection, usually comes on with a cold, cough and hoarseness, sometimes accompanied by a slight fever and joint pain.
In the damp and cold season, it is mainly the viruses that multiply at lightning speed – doctors’ offices are full of coughing and sneezing patients.
The common cold is triggered by about 200 different viruses. At the same time, coughing and a “runny” nose are healthy and reasonable defensive reactions of the body that should not be suppressed:
- In the nose, for example, viruses colonize the mucous membranes, this swells and produces more fluid, which is excreted.
- When coughing, annoying foreign bodies are also “disposed of” along with the mucus. This so-called productive cough must not be muffled in any case.
What does inhalation?
Against some complaints of the flu infection and many chronic diseases of the respiratory tract is fortunately grown many a herb.
In the steam, the volatile substances of medicinal herbs can be easily inhaled through the mouth and nose. They mainly eliminate the congestion of secretions in the nose, sinuses and bronchi. In this process, the effect of water vapor and the effect of added medicinal substances or medicinal plants complement each other.
Therefore, inhalation can often provide relief from coughs and colds.
Inhale with what? These remedies help!
To inhale, use either an essential oil (peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, menthol crystals), which is added drop by drop to the hot water, or take a few spoons of the dried herb (for example, mint leaves, thyme herb) and pour it over the hot water.
Among the main remedies that help with colds as an inhalant are:
- Anise: for bronchitis, expectorant.
- Eucalyptus: for all colds, loosens mucus, promotes expectoration, germicidal.
- Fennel: for bronchitis and cough, expectorant.
- Chamomile: acts in many complaints anti-inflammatory, germicidal.
- Peppermint: for colds and headaches, as a tea for stomach problems.
- Sage: for laryngitis and tonsillitis, germicidal.
- Thyme: for bronchitis, whooping cough and spasmodic cough, dissolves mucus and disinfects.
The best tips against a cold
Be careful with infants and young children
Infants and very young children often react with dangerous respiratory problems to the use of menthol-containing inhalants. Special mild preparations without menthol are available for these young patients.
How does inhalation work?
In the classic method, you pour hot water on the herb or drip the essential oil into it. Now you bend your head over the vessel and breathe in alternately through your nose and mouth.
This method works more intensively if the head and bowl are covered with a towel.
Disadvantages of inhalation
A disadvantage of inhalation is that the vessel could fall over and the hot water could thus cause severe scalds under certain circumstances. Therefore, children should never be allowed to inhale in this way.
Another disadvantage is that the eyes are also exposed to the essential oil. This can irritate the mucous membranes of the eyes, especially with eucalyptus or peppermint inhalations.
Inhaling correctly – help from the pharmacy.
If you use a stable steam inhaler from the pharmacy, the substances can be inhaled specifically through the mouth and nasal passages through a mouth-nose mask. In the process, virtually none of the effective essential oils reach the eyes.
Steam inhalers are not suitable for inhaling solid medicines or salts. For this purpose, an electric inhaler is needed that finely nebulizes the salt solution or drug for inhalation so that the droplets can be inhaled through a mouthpiece.
