5 ways to help you feel better when you’ve got a cold

Being ill sucks, and a cold can be the worst thing. Coming home from work feeling exhausted, not doing what to do. Constant feeling of being bunged up and even worse those days where you just don’t feel like going any where. Sound familiar? Now these five things are not medical cures – obviously I’m not a medical professional. However they are things you can do when you have a cold or feel ill, that might help you feel a little bit better, or at least… brighten your day.

1. Forget daytime TV – watch some comedy instead

A favourite tactic of mine, given the appalling quality of daytime TV – I mean why not just give up and put the funding elsewhere – is to watch a good comedy. It might be a film, it might be a comedy series on DVD, it might just be something you’ve got saved on your recorder. Either way, a good chuckle is a good mood enhancer and will help you feel a little bit better. Obviously this needs illustrating, so see one of my favourite clips taken from a highly underrated BBC2 sitcom – Beautiful People – below!

2. Belong to a health club – make use of it!

No I am not suggesting you get on the treadmill and run faster than you’ve ever done before – you’re not well! However if your health club has a steam room, I’d recommend you make use of it. For a start it gets you out of the house, it’s probably more effective than having your head over a bowl of hot water and you don’t have to keep replacing the hot water either because it’s all done for you! There’s also the fact it will help get rid of all the snot and gunk as well, and hopefully afterwards you’ll be breathing easier too.

3. Get a fruit and veg hit

First thing I ever do when I start feeling under the weather is go for fruit and veg. Normally involving a bag of stir fry vegetables with some meat, and an innocent smoothie (I know full of sugar – but full of fruit too). I find this helps boost my vitamin levels and helps me fight off what ever is coming. Let’s be honest even if the smoothie and copious amounts of vegetables don’t help you fight it off, at least the sugar high might make you feel better…

4. Make yourself a nice cup of tea

Tea will cure everything – we’re British, of course it does! However it will also help wash away mucus and gunk and give you that warm feeling inside. Personally I go for herbal tea – lemon or ginger (or both) is really good so I’ve been told. Either way just tell yourself its tradition and be done with it.

5. Listen to some feel good music

We’ve all done it. Find the tunes that make you smile, that you associate with the good times and all of a sudden all may become right with the world. Whether it’s No Direction (OK, 1D) or Queen or Green Day or any tune you love, whack it on the iPod or other technical device and just for those 3-4 minutes feel better at the crappy illness life has dealt you. And yes… I’ll give you an example below – be warned it’s Eurovision related, though how it came last in 2012 is totally beyond me!