I’ve always been very lucky with my health. Even though I haven’t always lived a healthy lifestyle, I’ve never had any health issues and it’s quite rare for me to get sick. Though on occasion I’ll get a severe throat infection and I wanted to share how I deal with that in a natural way since it’s helped me a lot.
Disclaimer: Yes I’m sick right now :-( and decided to write this post partly for myself as a strategy for next time.
What does it mean when I get sick?
When I get a throat infection it’s always because I haven’t taken care of my body well enough. Meaning that I haven’t gotten enough sleep and my immune system is weakened and therefore is letting all the bacteria just run free.
I usually get a bit of a sore throat and I just get soooo tired, like crazy tired, like can’t-do-anything-but-sit-on-the-sofa-tired, like walking-up-the-stairs-is-too-hard-tired. It’s never life-threatening, but since I don’t get sick much I always feel like I’m the most sick anyone has even been in the history of mankind ;-)
My remedies
I strongly believe that my body is capable of fixing itself (in most cases). So all I can do is support it in this process. There’s no point in fighting a throat infection, you just have to let it pass (or use antibiotics – which I don’t want to do).
So here are the 5 things I do to get better as soon as possible:
1/ Give myself a break
My body needs time to heal. And I’m the only one that can give it that rest. Fortunately I’m quite flexible in my job, so when I get sick, I actually stay home and rest. I cancel my appointments, spend all day on my sofa and take naps whenever I feel like it.
So many people get back to work too quickly and try to ignore the fact that they’re sick. Which only prolongs the healing process of course.
You’d be surprised how much one day of couch-potatoness can do for your body: a blanket, binge-watching a good show and a cup of tea is all you need! This time around I watched every episode of Sneaky Pete on Prime Video!
(Sign up here for a 30-day free trial for Amazone Prime Video if you want to do the same ;-)
2/ Get enough sleep
This one goes hand in hand with the previous one, but when I’m sick I need a lot more sleep than I usually do. Remember, I got in this situation because I didn’t get enough sleep so I already have a deficiency that I need to catch up on. And then I also need extra sleep to give my body a chance to heal itself. So it’s not uncommon that I will try to sleep for 11 hours.
Quick tip: When I’m sick it usually means that I’m coughing or restless at night, so I will sometimes take a melatonine + valerian root supplement (like this one on Amazon) to facilitate falling asleep and staying asleep. I find this really helps me get a good night’s sleep and recuperate much quicker.
3/ Eat and drink healthy food
My go to food for when I get sick are: lemon, turmeric, ginger, honey and coconut oil. Anything I eat or drink during this time will have one of these ingredients in them. None of them actually gets rid of the bacteria, but they do help in supporting my immune system and feed my body.
I also think that ‘actively’ adding these ingredients to my food gives a kind of placebo effect where my minds thinks I’m healing :-)
My favorite thing to make is a warm lemony drink:
- Add 2 tbsp of lemon juice in a glass of water
- Put it in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds
- Add a coffeespoon of honey
- And a dash of turmeric and some black pepper
I drink this at least twice a day to help soothe my throat and boost my immune system. And it also just tastes good :-)
4/ Take care of basic hygiene
It’s easy to forget this when I’m lying on the couch and it takes everything I’ve got to just go to the toilet … But simply taking a shower and brushing my teeth makes me feel a lot better very quickly. It just makes me feel like a human again.
5/ Get out of the house eventually
When I feel up for it, I try to get out of the house at least once a day. Preferably to meet and talk to a friend. Again, to make me feel like a human again.
Though I always have to be careful not to overdo it. The main principle needs to remain that I need to give my body some rest … I have been known to go climbing while being sick and even though it might be good for my emotional wellbeing, it really doesn’t help my physical state …
So yes, like I said in the beginning, I’m mostly writing this post as a reminder to myself to take it easy when I get sick ;-) Sure … it might seem courageous to go to work or hang out with friends when you’re sick but really, it’s more courageous to just go home, lie on the couch on give yourself a break.
