Ah, winter. That time of year when there never seems to be an hour when every member of your family is healthy and at least one person is always suffering from a cold. It can be the pain of missing school, missing work, and sleepless nights.
But what if there was a very simple, all-natural, and scientifically proven way to shorten the length of your child’s cold? A new study published in european respiratory society The answer has been found, and it’s as easy as drinking some salt water.
Researchers found that applying salt water drops to a sick child’s nose four times a day shortened symptoms by two full days and reduced the likelihood of spreading the cold to others in the family by 20 percent.
The study involved more than 300 children who either received 2.6% saline nasal drops or were cared for in their usual way.
Use saline nose drops four times a day, three drops in each nostril, until healed.
result? Children who received saline drops had symptoms for six days, while children who did not receive saline drops were sick for eight days. Additionally, family members who received saline drips were only 46 percent more likely to catch a cold, compared with 61 percent of those under usual care.
Finally, children who used saline drops needed less other medications, such as cough suppressants and pain relievers, during their illness.
“Salt is made up of sodium and chloride,” explains Professor Steve Cunningham of the Center for Child Life and Health at the University of Edinburgh and a researcher on the study. The cells in the lining are used to produce hypochlorous acid within the cells. Shorten the duration of viral infection and thus the duration of symptoms.
Treatment is also easy for parents. More than 80% said their child got better faster, and 82% said they would use this treatment in the future.
Over on TikTok, our favorite pediatric ER doctor Megan Martin, MD, added some great context to the study, reminding everyone not to use anything other than distilled water in their nasal passages. The easiest way to buy the right concentration of salt is to get “extra strength.”
She added that while the study focused on children six years old and younger, there’s no scientific basis to suggest the treatment wouldn’t have the same effect in adults. Likewise, it applies to other viruses that affect the respiratory system, including COVID-19.
“It’s cheap, it’s easy, and the risk is low,” she concluded.
So glad we have another tool in our toolbox for the next time our kids get sick (spoiler alert: that might be tomorrow).
