yler Powers demonstrates how to cure a cold by smearing mustard on his chest. Photo by Crystal Snow
It seems that just about everyone has a cold remedy they swear by. The different remedies range from actually helpful to downright bizarre. Here are just a few of the most common Google-searched remedies. Attempt on your own conscience and at your own risk, and let your friends know if they actually work!
• Put slices of onions in your socks to draw out toxins.
• Chocolate helps sooth coughs (especially dark chocolate)!
• Have some ginger and/or honey tea
• Drink plenty of liquids, but avoid caffeine.
• Eat some chicken or pigeon soup, the Internet isn’t picky.
• Smother your chest with mustard.
• Put a hairless dog on your bare chest.
• Gargle toothpaste.
• Mix a honey and onion cough elixir.
• Brew up some lizard soup.
• Wear Vick’s Vapor Rub and fluffy socks on your feet when you sleep.
Snow College students had a lot to say about some of these supposed remedies. “Lizard soup? As if, that’s disgusting!” Student Natalie Klein stated. “Having a cold is awful, but there is no way I would ever eat that.” She did, however, appreciate the suggestion to use chocolate to sooth coughing.
Jessica Guymon agrees that some of these cures are just no-go’s. “I would never use onions in my socks. I hate the smell, and it would make my bed and socks forever smell of onions. Nobody wants that.” She proclaimed.
A vocal music major, Natalie Dickman, said she’d be willing to try gargling toothpaste. “If I was desperate enough and had to sing I’d do it,” she said, “but otherwise it would be a no.”
As the season of colds and the flu approaches, it is important for students to drink plenty of liquid and stay warm so they can avoid catching cold – especially as finals approaches!