Protecting your lungs from a cold involves two key strategies: general prevention of the illness itself and managing symptoms if you do get sick to prevent the infection from settling in your chest.
Don't sniffle; by doing so, some tiny droplets of phlegm are pulled deep into your lungs. Avoid using your lungs to pull that sinus phlegm back to your throat. Instead, regularly blow your nose so you'll not invite a chest cold.
How can I treat a cold when pregnant?
Breathing through the nose instead of the mouth may also be helpful as this will warm the air before it reaches the lungs. If you can, you should also wear a hood or scarf that covers the nose and mouth on particularly cold days.
How to feel better
Common colds turn into chest colds when the virus travels from your nose and throat to your lungs. Occasionally, bacteria cause chest colds. You can have a cough with a common cold or a chest cold. But chest colds produce a wet cough, meaning you may feel or cough up phlegm.
Tea and Diet: Incorporating antioxidant-rich teas like green tea and chrysanthemum tea can help reduce inflammation in the lungs and improve overall lung health. Foods rich in vitamins, such as leafy greens, apples, and beets, also support lung function.
But there are things you can do to keep your lungs healthy and even increase your capacity.
Cold air holds less moisture than warm air. Dry nostrils are more prone to viruses, and if you're already sick, dry air can worsen a sore throat. Try using a humidifier. If you don't have one, leave a shallow bowl of water out, particularly near a heat source.
If the weather is too hot, too cold, too humid, not humid enough, or even too windy, it can feel harder to breathe and you may wheeze or cough more. Research has found that the ideal conditions for people with respiratory disease are a temperature of around 70⁰F and humidity level around 40%.
Your immune system is repressed so that your body doesn't view your fetus as a “foreign object” and attack it. It is a common misconception that your immune system just moves resources to the baby, but this just isn't true. Because your immune system is repressed, you are more vulnerable to infection.
When used as directed, Vicks VapoRub is safe to use during pregnancy.
Natural remedies that may offer relief for cold and flu symptoms
Colds often don't cause pneumonia directly, but they can make you more prone to developing a lung infection if you have certain risk factors. You can keep a cold from turning into pneumonia by supporting your immune system, getting routine vaccinations, and managing any chronic health conditions.
Although not fully proven, large doses of vitamin C may help reduce how long a cold lasts. Large doses of vitamin C do not protect against getting a cold. Vitamin C may also be helpful for those exposed to brief periods of severe or extreme physical activity.
Mucus at Work
Bacteria land on the mucus-lined surface of the lungs and get trapped. Then little hairs called cilia go to work. They push the mucus up and out of the lungs with all the trapped bacteria, viruses, and dust. “It comes up at sort of a nice slow rate to the back of the throat,” Boucher says.
Studies show that people who don't get adequate sleep when fighting an infection take longer to recover and may develop more severe symptoms. Sleeping 7-9 hours might maintain health when you're well, but recovery often requires additional rest throughout the day.
Vitamins C and D, zinc, and Echinacea have evidence-based efficacy on these immune system barriers. This review includes 82 eligible studies to consider the preventive role of these nutrients in immune clusters and in CC to provide advice on dosage and assumption of these nutrients.
Cold symptoms peak 1 to 3 days from when your symptoms first start. These are usually the worst days of a cold and when you're most contagious. The main symptoms include: Sore throat.
Symptoms
Hot honey water: Honey is rich in anti-inflammatory traits. It helps to cleanse the body of bacteria. The combination of this with hot water can help to detoxify your lungs and rid them of inhaled pollutants.
Practice mindful breathing: Deep breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, and pursed-lip breathing expand your lung capacity and improve oxygen flow. Just 10 minutes a day can make a significant difference. Stay hydrated: Drinking water helps thin mucus, making it easier for your lungs to expel toxins.
Below are some vitamins that are particularly beneficial for lung health.
Physical activity can be one of the best ways to help clear sputum out of your lungs. Physical activity that makes you breathe more deeply and quickly which will loosen the sputum and move it through your lungs, towards your mouth. It is important to be active and use an Airway Clearance Technique.