It’s that time of year and we aren’t just talking about the holidays. It is now cold and flu season, which could certainly put a damper on any holiday festivities you have planned. If you do come down with a cold and need a cough remedy to keep you from hacking all over everyone’s Christmas dinner, check out some of the tips below.

Natural Cough Remedies

One of the best natural cough remedies is honey, particularly raw honey that was made locally. MayoClinic says that studies have shown that honey can be just as effective as a cough remedy as cough medicines. You can take two teaspoons of honey twice per day or put two teaspoons of honey in a glass of warm milk with a little lemon juice to help soothe your cough.

Drink thyme tea. This German treatment for coughs and other respiratory issues is said to work wonders. To make the thyme tea, put a teaspoon of crushed thyme leaves in a cup of boiling water and let it steep for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes is up, use a strainer to remove the leaves, let the tea cool off a bit and drink up.

Simply stay hydrated. According to WebMD, a bad cold can cause a postnasal drip, which can irritate your throat and cause a cough. If you drink plenty of fluids, this “helps to thin out the mucus in postnasal drip,” which can help you either get rid of the cough or at least make it less severe.

Best Cough Syrups

Don’t care for natural remedies and want to go the medicinal route? There are dozens of different over-the-counter medicines that help with colds, so it can be difficult to know which one to buy. If you want something to keep you from coughing every five seconds, the main thing is to look for a cough suppressant, which usually contains dextromethorphan (DM).

Delsym DM is a cough medicine that many people swear by. Unlike some of the other cold medicines, this isn’t an all-in-one solution for every cold symptom you have. Delsym DM suppresses your cough and loosens up the mucus in your chest. Make sure you read the label before purchasing, though, as it isn’t for people of all ages or for people with certain medical conditions.

Another cough medicine that people are big fans of is Robitussin-DM. Not only does it work to suppress your cough, it also contains a mucus expectorant that loosens up the mucus in your chest.

Avoid Spreading Germs

If you do get a nasty cough, there is a proper way to cough to avoid spreading germs. The Red Cross has put together a video demonstrating the proper cough technique below.

[Image via YouTube]