Ayurveda terms the common cold as Prathishyaya. Vitiation of Vata and Kapha individually or together, is generally involved in the ailment. Cold is probably the most commonly encountered ailment in the human body and thereby, it becomes the ‘common cold’. Allergy to changes in weather or an infection by a virus are considered important causative factors of the common cold. As a result, the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract get inflamed. This leads to symptoms like sneezing, running nose, headache, sore throat, body pain, etc.

Common Recipes:

• Boil about 5-10 gms small slices of freshly cut ginger in a glass of water for 5 minutes. Add a teaspoonful of sugar to enhance the taste. Strain the decoction through a tea strainer. Drinking this tea 4-6 times a day would ensure instant relief from the common cold.
• Grind 4-6 seeds of black pepper. Add this powder together with a pinch of turmeric to a cup of milk and boil it for 2 minutes. Strain the milk through a tea strainer. Drinking this at bedtime helps you sleep better by preventing a stuffy nose and nocturnal dry cough caused by a common cold.
• Coarsely powder the cinnamon bark. Boil about 20 gms in a glass of water, adding a pinch of black pepper powder and a teaspoonful of honey. Strain the decoction and drink it when hot. This would cure you of your cold.
• Lemon is an important remedy for the obvious symptoms of a common cold. Dilute the juice of one lemon in a glass of warm water and make use of honey by adding a teaspoon of it to the mixture. Take this lemonade twice or thrice daily. This vitamin C-rich lemonade increases body resistance, decreases toxicity, and reduces the duration of illness.