The Cold: Root of All Illnesses and How to Defeat It

Recently, as the daily temperature range has become more severe, the number of patients with colds has increased significantly. Although colds are a mild disease, they are the root of all diseases, so special attention should be paid to prevention and treatment. During this period, immunity is weakened, making it easy to get sick. Therefore, it is easy to get infected with infectious diseases such as colds. In particular, people who are exhausted from excessive fatigue or suffer from chronic diseases are prone to catching colds because their lungs cannot handle the cold air that suddenly blows in due to their weakened energy.

When you catch a cold, symptoms such as fever, headache, and bloodshot eyes first appear. The respiratory tract becomes inflamed, the fever lasts for several days, and the joints hurt. The nose is blocked or runny, the throat is sore or swollen, and phlegm is produced. If it gets worse, the whole body becomes weak, breathing becomes rapid, and the pulse slows. The elderly and children are at risk of developing pneumonia.

When you have a headache and fever in the early stages of a cold, it is good to boil green onions and drink the broth. Grind 20g of green onions and ginger with 4g of salt, wrap it in a cloth, and massage the hands, soles, chest, back, elbows, and inside of the knees to relieve cold symptoms. Green onions are used as a folk remedy for respiratory diseases, liver diseases, and gastrointestinal diseases. Green onion roots are used as a medicine to treat colds, and experimental results are showing that they are effective in suppressing the growth of bacteria that cause various inflammations, such as tuberculosis.

When you have caught a cold due to being exposed to a lot of cold wind and have symptoms such as chills, runny nose, and sneezing, drinking white rice noodles made by boiling the white part of green onions with sugar will make you sweat and relieve your symptoms.

The white part of the green onion is good to eat lightly grilled when you have a weak stomach, lack of appetite in late summer, or feel drowsy after meals. If you experience painful urination at the end of a cold, boiling and drinking the green stalks and leaves of green onion helps reduce fever and promotes urination.

For babies with colds and coughs, it is effective to boil green onion roots with sesame oil and apricot seeds and give them to drink. When the throat is swollen and it is difficult to speak, it is good to give them bean sprout soup with lots of red pepper powder to make them sweat.

When you have a cold, chills, headache, or cold symptoms due to the flu, drink a decoction of honeysuckle mixed with chestnuts and jujubes in water to help reduce fever, induce sweating, and relieve cramps. Honeysuckle is a medicinal herb that means enduring and surviving the cold winter. It has a mild diuretic effect, and experimental studies have reported anti-inflammatory effects and suppression of the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and pneumococcus. It is also known to be effective in treating infectious hepatitis, bacterial dysentery, enteritis, and appendicitis.

For cold prevention, herbal remedies commonly used include formulations like Jade Wind Barrier Powder (옥병풍산, Yu Ping Feng San, 玉屛風散), which strengthen lung energy and boost immunity. In this formula, Astragalus (황기, Huangqi, 黃芪) serves as the main herb. There have even been reports of positive results from applying a liquid extract of Astragalus into the nose to help prevent colds. While some consider folk remedies to be unscientific, experiments like these have often proven their excellent

effectiveness.

The three main principles of treating colds are to keep your body warm, eat well, and get enough rest. To prevent colds, it is important to avoid contact with people with colds and minimize exposure to cold wind. You should avoid cold wind, especially after exercise or bathing, and when your clothes or body are wet. It is also important to wash your hands thoroughly, brush your teeth frequently, avoid overwork, and get enough sleep. Cold water massage, cold shower, and sunbathing are also important to increase skin resistance.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash