In Japan there are a lot of traditional remedies for curing the common cold without using medicine. It's easy to use most of these remedies at home. There are many variations on the remedies depending on the household. Here are three well-known remedies for curing a cold depending on the particular cold symptoms. Why not give them a try!

If you come down with a cold and get a sore throat, try a green onion pack. Cut the white part of the green onion into pieces 10 centimeters long. Cut each piece vertically down the middle. Hold the onion pieces over a flame until they get soft on the outside. After the oil starts oozing out of the onion, wrap the pieces in a thin towel or gauze. Wrap the towel or gauze around the neck so that the insides of the onion pieces are against the throat. This works well if the onion wrap is changed for a new one several times during the day.

Ginger drink is a good remedy if you come down with a cold and have a stuffed up nose. Grate some fresh ginger and squeeze out the ginger juice. Add hot water to the ginger juice and some dark sugar or honey, stir it up well and drink it. Ginger is good for blood circulation, warms up the body, and induces sweating. Ginger drink works well to help cure a stuffed up nose.

If you have a cold and have the chills, you can get over it quickly with egg and sake drink. Add one egg to a cup of Japanese sake and heat it up until the egg is soft-boiled. It will taste even better if some dark sugar or honey is added. Drink it while it is hot and it will warm you right up! Eggs contain lots of protein and vitamin B2 and are easy to digest. Egg and sake drink is a great remedy for a cold.

The common cold, is also known as acute coryza, is an inflammation of upper respiratory tract and is caused by infection with virus. It occurs more often than all other diseases. A person suffers from this decease three times a year on an average. A cold usually lasts from three to ten days, the patient feels miserable for the first three days or so.

The first signs of a cold are a feeling of soreness of the throat and congestion of the nasal passage. Although the disease normally begins in the nose and throat, it affects all parts of the body. Its usually symptoms are a running nose, sneezing, a rise in temperature, headache, sore throat, chill, aches and pains in the body and loss appetite. The skin around the nostrils may become sore.

To treat a cold by means of traditional way is using lime. Lime is the most important among the many home remedies for common cold. It is highly beneficial in all types of cold and fever. It should be taken well diluted. Vitamin C rich lime juice increase resistance, decrease toxicity and reduces the duration of the illness. Lime juice should be diluted in a glass of warm water, and a teaspoonful of honey should be added to it. It forms an ideal remedy for a cold and dry cough.

Garlic soup is an ancient remedy to reduce the severity of cold. Garlic contains antiseptic and antispasmodic properties besides several other medicinal virtues. The volatile oil in the garlic flushes out the system of all toxins and thus helps bring down fever. Garlic oil combined with onion juice, diluted with water and drunk several times a day, has also been found in several studies to be extremely effective in the treatment of the common cold.

Ginger is also an excellent food remedy for colds and coughs. Ginger should be cut into small pieces and boiled in a cup of water, it should then be strained and half a teaspoon of sugar added to it. It should be drunk while it is still hot, in case of colds. Ginger tea, prepared by adding a few pieces of ginger into boiled water before adding tea leaves, is also an effective remedy for cold and for fevers resulting from cold.

Turmeric, with an antiseptic property, is an effective remedy for cold and throat irritations. Half a teaspoonful of fresh turmeric powder mixed in 30 grams of warm milk is a useful prescription for these conditions. Turmeric powder should be put into a hot ladle. Milk should then be poured in it and boiled over a slow fire. In case of a running cold, smoke from the burning turmeric should be inhaled. It will increase the discharge from the nose and will bring quicker relief.

A cold is one of the more common illnesses which people are down with. In a hectic society like Singapore, where the pace of life is ever so fast, people are working very hard and having very little sleep, the common cold becomes very rampant among people. This is definitely something busy Singaporeans would not want as it disrupts their work and life.

While it is virtually impossible to prevent a cold, there are steps which can be taken to reduce the likelihood of getting the cold virus. Also, some ways to cure a cold (besides going to the doctor) will be introduced here for people who often fall sick due to a cold or who are more susceptible to getting a cold.

One way to prevent getting a cold would be to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Though there is no direct evidence to show that maintaining a healthy lifestyle through sleeping adequately, having a good nutrition and exercising would help to prevent a cold, all these ensure that the immune system is in good condition and ready to fight infection if it occurs.

Studies have also shown that people experiencing emotional stress have weaker immune systems, and are more likely to catch a cold than their counterparts who do not experience as much stress.

For those who did not manage to prevent a cold, and are unfortunately down with it, one of the simplest and cost effective method to recover from the cold would be to have ample rest. Resting helps your body to resist the cold virus better and in a more efficient way. It is also important to avoid drinks like alcohol and coffee as these liquids tend to dehydrate the body and this is definitely not what we want when we are with a cold. It would also be good to take fruits and vegetables which are rich in Vitamin C as Vitamin C would help the body to recover much faster. Last but not least, drinking lots of water would help to hydrate the body and aids the immune system to fight against the cold.

When we were kids, we had never heard of any news about people killed by cold or influenza. As a "by-product" of the repaid growth of city development and abusive use of natural resources, new "species" of virus are found from time to time. Influenza virus could invade human organs like heart, lung or even brain in no time, and patient could possibly die within a short period of time. Some existing vaccines are proved no more effective. Influenza has become one of the most common and "efficient" killers of city people!

I am sure everybody has experienced cold or flu in a certain degree. Even doctors could not do much to help but prescribe you with medicine that put to into sleep for a good rest or relief from syndromes.

In those good old days, whenever we felt the syndromes of cold, if we do not want to take any medicine, we simply pour a bottle of coke cola into a boiling pan, and simmer it with a few slides of lemon or ginger for a few minutes. And then drink it while it is still warm. We believed that it would help to relief ourselves from suffering headache, running rose, stuffy nose etc. Not until 2003, when SARS broken out in South China, Bablangen, a kind of Chinese herbal, was then introduced to us by a Chinese herbal Dr. in Guanzhou. Since then, it has become one of the most popular Chinese herbal medicines during the peak seasons of cold and influenza.

From Chinese herbal doctor's perspective, Banlangen is categorized as cold herb that could balance the heat and dilute the toxicity in our inner body. Nowadays, Banlangen has been refined into a power that is soluble in water for consumption convenience. Speaking from my personal experience, it works really well!

As the old saying says "Prevention is better than cure!" A balance healthy diet, sufficient sleep, adequate exercise, plus an apple a day could help you to prevent from any virus attack.

The reason why people easily to catch cold is due to the weather and physique. The autumn and winter are high season for influenza, we should adopt positive prevention, cure on time.
Now let me find how to prevent a cold, the traditional methods are as bellow:

1. Bathe feet into hot water: Every night bathe feet into hot water (the water need as high temperature as you can endure) about 15 minutes, pay attention to the water level should high than instep, leads your feet redness, to prevention flu.

2. Saline mouthwash: Every day twice saline mouthwash after breakfast and dinner, to clear the oral bacteria. When the high season for flu need pay full attention about that, meantime, rise head to make saline water fully wash throat is quite better.

3. Cook ginger with Cola: Cook the 20 to 30 grams fresh ginger with a bottle of Coca-Cola, drinks before it's too late, it has a very good effect on prevents and controls flu.

Once a virus has entered your body, it is up to your immune system to deal with it. The combination of how strong you are, and how strong the virus is, will determine how ill you become, or if you even get sick at all. Maintaining general good health by eating well, exercising, and controlling stress will help to maintain strong immunity. There are many natural medicines which can boost your immunity. Echinacea, a popular herb, is safe for most people, as is garlic. Safe dosages of vitamins A, C and zinc are nutrients which the immune system requires when fighting a virus. There are many other less well known supplements which can improve immunity, depending on your needs and level of health. Homeopathic remedies can be helpful as well, and are generally considered quite safe, even in small children. There is no proven specific treatment for a cold, but supportive measures may be helpful.

Written by Y. P. Lee of Purchasing Section

Since so many different viruses can cause a common cold, no effective vaccine has been developed. But you can take some common-sense precautions to slow the spread of cold viruses, such as soak your feet with hot water, sip home-made ginger drink, gargle with salt water, drink tea regularly, wash hands frequently and so on. Here I would like to introduce one of very effective preventive ways for a cold, that is, acupressure.

Acupressure is an ancient healing art developed in Asia over 5,000 years ago, using the fingers to press key points on the surface of the skin to stimulate the body's natural self-curative abilities. When these points are pressed, they release muscular tension and promote the circulation of blood and the body's life force energy to aid healing. Acupressure stimulates your body to expel the virus more quickly, and your body is simply progressing through the symptoms faster than usual. Although acupressure cannot cure a cold, working on certain points can help you get better quicker and increase your resistance to future colds.

There are three steps of exercise for pressure points to relieve colds and flu

Step 1
Press Welcoming Perfume: Place both of your middle fingers beside your nostrils and your index fingers next to them; gradually press up and underneath the cheekbones for one minute. You can easily teach this step to your child to help relieve nasal congestion.

Step 2
Press Joining the Valley: Spread your left thumb and index finger apart. Place your right thumb in the webbing on the back of your left hand and your fingertips on the palm directly behind your thumb. Firmly squeeze your thumb and index finger of your right hand together to press into the webbing. Angle the pressure toward the bone that connects with your left index finger, and hold for one minute. Then switch hands.

Step 3
Firmly press Feng Chih: Place your thumbs behind your head tightly, two to three inches apart. Slowly tilt your head back and apply pressure gradually, holding the position for one minute to fully release these important cold-relief points.

Nowadays, natural product or herbal is very popular for keeping healthy. Because, chemical synthetic is much effected to our health. Therefore, I would like to present about "Aromatherapy" that is treat by fragrance or aroma.

Essential oil, which is obstructed from corolla, leaf, pollen root and bark, is important basic element of Aromatherapy. Aroma can be useful of purifying by inhalation and approach to skin. Therapeutic (Clinic aromatherapy) is using of aroma to treat for healthy by the clinical aroma therapist who advise correct way with right aroma smell. This treat is divided into 3 types as following:

1) Psycho aromatherapy or Aromachology is using of Aroma oil for balancing mind to calm, relax or arouse brain system. This can be protect and treat for sorrow and mental sickness. Aroma smells help people have power, fleshy and energetic.

2) Holistic aromatherapy is using of Aroma oil combine with treating for balancing body, emotion and mind in the same time.

3) Medical aromatherapy is using of Aroma oil to help or treat for balancing chemical and physics liquid in body to protect disease.

Besides, there are compress treat and inhalation treat to protect illness. Compress is using of Aroma oil combine with water and herbal tea by bring towel compress to body around 20-30 minutes and inhale smell of Aroma oil in the same time.
Inhalation is using of light aroma oil drop into tissue, handkerchief or pillow to inhale smell of Aroma oil. These two ways can be treating for cold fever, Sinus and respiration system.

Please try on Therapeutic way to protect flu or disease. At least, you will relax and release!

The herbalist doctor thinks that cold is caused by windchill. The influenza virus will visit you if there are frequent weather change, much tiredness, and nervous depression or staying in a close space for long time. So the most effective way to prevent a cold is to enhance your immunity enginery. I'd like to introduce some point massage ways to prevent a cold.

Massage the point Fengchi (no. 1 on the chart) both deasil and widdershins for 60 to 100 times. This point is the main for prevention of a cold. You'll feel easy and less snuffle after massage this point.
Massage the point Taiyang (no. 2 on the chart) for 60 to 100 times, which will relieve your pain.
Massage the point Yinxiang (no. 3 on the chart) for 60 to 100 times, which will make your snuffle catabatic.
Massage the point Hegu (no. 4 on the chart) for both hands 60 to 100 times, which will sober you up.
Hopefully you will get better soon after point massage.