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Home Remedies for Cough Relief

Tea from the mullein flower can be a helpful natural remedy to use against coughs.

Natural Remedies: How to Get Rid of a Cough

Heidi Stonehill
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Coughs, while rarely serious, can be really annoying. Some of these natural remedies can provide great relief from a cough—especially when you’re having difficulty sleeping!

Natural Remedies to Relieve Coughs

  • Lemon juice, sweetened with loaf or crushed sugar, will relieve a cough. –The 1852 Old Farmer’s Almanac. Find more household uses for lemons.
  • The root of the sweet flag was often powdered or sliced and used as a ginger substitute or throat lozenge.
  • Mullein, with its large, soft leaves, makes a wonderful flower tea. (As an aside, its fluffy, absorbent leaves have also been used for toilet paper in a pinch!)
  • Catnip tea helps reduce mucus.
  • To suppress a night cough, put 1 teaspoon of black pepper and 1 teaspoon of sugar into a mug. Pour in boiling water and let steep. The pepper will settle to the bottom. Sip, as needed.
  • Horehound drops, made with the extract of the leaves of the bitter mint Marrubium vulgare, can be combined with honey for a soothing cough drop, or served as a tea with lemon.
  • Hot and spicy foods act as expectorants, loosening up the lungs’ secretions.
  • A reader told us that a teaspoon of mustard will relieve a cough for up to four hours. See if it works for you!
  • Some of these natural remedies might also be helpful to relieve anxiety and stress.

Find some recipes for making herbal teas!

Folk Remedies for a Cough: The Dirt Cure

Now, here’s a cure for a severe winter cough that comes from The Old Farmer’s Almanac archives: The Dirt Cure! Here’s how it works:

Read Next

  • Find a piece of land covered with bushes and small stones.
  • When the land has a foot of snow but is not frozen solid, shovel off the snow.
  • Then, cut down the bushes and dig out the stones, turning up fresh and pure soil.
  • Bring fistfuls of soil to your face and inhale the scent of fresh earth.
  • Continue until you have cleared half an acre, and you will find yourself strong and hale, and entirely rid of your cough!

Learn how to cure a sore throat and more natural remedies for colds.

Natural Remedies
About The Author

Heidi Stonehill

Heidi Stonehill is the executive editor for The Old Farmer’s Almanac, where she focuses much of her time on managing content development for the Almanac’s line of calendars. Read More from Heidi Stonehill
 

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Comments

SLE68 (not verified)

6 years 5 months ago

Could you please tell me what Stone Ginger is? I googled it and it keeps showing me ginger wine, etc.

greyeagle (not verified)

12 years 2 months ago

I use thyme honey lemon tea. 1 tsp dried thyme, honey and lemon to taste. Steep thyme in 1 cup hot water. I use a tea ball like is used for making loose tea in a pot, add honey and lemon and sip away. I do this three times a day. A cold or flu always settles in my chest and this will break it up. I found this about 4 years ago and have yet to buy any kind of OTC remedy for a cough or congestion.

Jeanie Butler (not verified)

12 years 4 months ago

add 2 teaspoons each of apple cider vinegar and honey to 8 ounces hot/steaming water, stir till well combined. Breathe in the steam (loosens phlem)and take 1-2 Tablespoons full as needed to stop cough. can be used room temp or reheated as desired.

jltcole (not verified)

12 years 4 months ago

Rub your feet with Vicks Vapor Rub, put on socks and get in the bed and feel the warmth seeping up your body. After a quiet night of sleep,wash your feet first thing in the morning.

bettina (not verified)

14 years 7 months ago

An old family tip for nagging coughs is to make a cup of hot tea and add a tablespoon of honey and the juice of half a fresh lemon. Stir well and enjoy.

Cypressholly (not verified)

15 years 2 months ago

I've read that boiling onions and honey together makes an amazing cough syrup.

StarMerchant (not verified)

15 years 5 months ago

Apply Vicks to the bottom of your feet and cover with socks to soothe a cough.

This remedy works better than most OTC cough syrups!

I find that Tiger Balm is better than Vicks as Vicks is petroleum based and tends to clog the pores while balm is absorbed by the skin and brings faster relief. It works well for a sore throat and fever.