Herbal Remedies for Cough

Sometimes even after a cold disappears, the cough remains for weeks. This causes a lot of stress on the throat and the abdominal muscles, which get sore and cause pain. The reason for persistent cough usually is congestion in the lungs, because the infection is still present and is causing phlegm. It is the body's instinctual reaction to cough out the infection, but this does not help reduce the congestion. What it leads to is a sore throat and a bad headache from all that strenuous coughing. Fortunately, there are some effective herbal remedies for cough which can be made from simple household ingredients.

#1 - Herbal Vaporizer
Homemade vaporizers can make a world of difference in helping the congestion in your chest to clear out. The idea is to extract as much phlegm from the lungs as possible, because it is this congestion which is causing you to cough so rampantly. You may either use machine vaporizers or you could simply use a steel jug or plastic bowl in which you can pour steaming hot water. Here is what you must do. Heat some water in a container and add a handful of peppermint leaves into the water. Let it come to a boil and wait until it begins to steam.

Now cover the container with a steamer or you can use it directly as well, but be careful not to get your face all flushed. Now add 10 drops of eucalyptus extract into the boiling water and inhale immediately. Take in deep inhalations and try to exhale out deeply as well. Repeat this for about 15-20 minutes, after which you must cover your chest with a warm cloth or dry towel. Soon you'll begin to cough out the phlegm and your throat won't feel as strained as before. If you do not have peppermint leaves, buy a bottle of extract or oil and add that along with the eucalyptus extract. You may use tea tree oil extracts as well, as this herb is equally excellent for cough, cold, and infections.

#2 - Ginger Toffees
Ginger has been used for curing cough and cold since generations and is an essential home remedy for cough. It has anti-inflammatory properties which helps to reduce the infection in the chest and the throat. Its antibacterial properties makes sure that the body's resistance grows and the infection subsides. You can grate the ginger to make fine threads, after which you must add the honey and black pepper. Chew this concoction and swallow the juice very slowly. Let the juice work its magic in your throat. You will notice that the next time you cough a lot of phlegm will come out with it. You may eat these ginger toffees the whole day long, but remember to make a fresh batch each time and do not refrigerate the ginger as most of its vitamins will evaporate if its kept in the fridge.

#3 - Lemon Juice
Lemon juice helps fight cold. While some may disagree, this remedy has always worked for me and my family. Every time we fell ill or felt something catching on, we drank fresh lemon juice, sweetened with natural honey. Here is the catch though, you will need to drink the juice hot, by heating up the water and then squeezing the lemon juice into it. You can instead make ginger lemon tea as well, where you will need to boil the water along with some freshly sliced ginger roots until the water has absorbed most of the ginger extracts. Now add the juice of half of a big lemon and then add the honey. This concoction is guaranteed to be effective against, cough, cold and congestion.

#4 - Honey and Black Pepper
Take a tablespoon of honey and add a small amount of black pepper on the honey. Now swallow the concoction so that you can feel the honey reaching all the sore areas in your throat. This remedy will help you stop coughing immediately. Both honey and black pepper have their individual medicinal qualities which makes them excellent for treating scratchy throat and dry cough. This concoction helps to reduce mucus in the sinus and fends off infection to a large extent.

#5 - Peppermint Tea
Peppermint is another ancient natural herbal remedy for cough. You can either buy peppermint tea from any general store or you could make tea using fresh peppermint leaves. Once the water has absorbed most of the peppermint extract, you may either drink it directly or you could add some honey to the tea.

Saline water gargle helps ease the inflammation in the throat. Try to gargle every four to five hours so as to remove the build up of infection. Chicken soup also helps sooth the throat, so you can enjoy a hearty meal even when everything else seems unpalatable.