Symptoms
- Runny or stuffy nose
- Itchy or sore throat
- Cough
- Congestion
- Slight body aches or a mild headache
- Sneezing
- Watery eyes
- Low-grade fever
- Mild fatigue
Causes
- Poor immune system
- Lack of zinc
- Poor diet
- Too much added sugar and sweetener
- Chronic stress
- Spreads by hand-to-hand contact with someone with cold
- Sharing contaminated objects, such as utensils, towels, toys or telephones.
Action plans
- Drink lots of fluids to help replace fluids lost during mucus production or fever. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can cause dehydration.
- Try chicken soup as an anti-inflammatory and temporarily speeds up the movement of mucus through the nose for helping relieve congestion
- Soothe throat by gargling salt-water can temporarily relieve a sore or scratchy throat.
- Take vitamin C at the onset of cold symptoms may shorten the duration of symptoms.