Common cold (2024)

FAQs

Common cold? ›

The common cold is a mild infection of your upper respiratory tract (which includes your nose and throat). Colds are probably the most common illness. Adults have an average of 2-3 colds per year, and children have even more. Colds are more common in the winter and spring, but you can get them at any time.

Most people recover from a common cold in 7 to 10 days. Symptoms might last longer in people who smoke. Most often, you don't need medical care for a common cold. If symptoms don't get better or if they get worse, see your health care provider.

Doctor's Response. Cold symptoms will go away on their own over time and rest is one of the best ways to help your body heal, so in a sense, you can sleep off a cold. Sleep helps boost the immune system and can help you recover from a cold more quickly. But sometimes, it's tough to sleep when you have a cold.

The circadian rhythm — our 24-hour internal clock — signals immune cells to become more active at night. When these cells pinpoint germs, they fight them off by creating inflammation, which makes respiratory symptoms worse.

In such cases, it can take 14 days or more to fully recover. When infection occurs, a cold goes through four characteristic stages: incubation, early symptoms, peak symptoms, and recovery. As there is no cure for the common cold, treatment is focused on rest, fluids, and symptom relief.

Blowing your nose can help relieve some of your symptoms. It can make it easier to breathe and can make you feel less congested. However, it probably won't make your cold resolve any faster. Plus, there's evidence to suggest that blowing your nose can sometimes be harmful.

If you're worried about spreading your cold, stay home to avoid exposing others to the cold-causing virus. However, you don't need to stay home for the entire duration of the cold. Schmidt says to stay home during the first two to three days of symptoms when the cold is especially transmittable.

But unless you've got other symptoms like aches or fever, get dressed and go to work! If you've been sick for a few days and you now cough up darker yellow mucus, it's still probably just a cold. But if it goes on this way for more than a week, it's a good idea to see your doctor.

You're generally contagious with a cold 1-2 days before your symptoms start, and you could be contagious as long as your symptoms are present—in rare cases, up to 2 weeks. The contagious period for the flu can last as long as 5-7 days from when you first felt sick.

It's clear that your body needs more sleep when you're unwell, which can help your immune system and recovery. But just how much more sleep should you get when you're sick? “There's no set amount, but the more sleep you can get when you're sick, the better,” advises Brager.

Does vitamin C help with colds? ›

Taking vitamin C every day to try to prevent colds won't protect most people from colds. It only slightly shortens the amount of time that they're ill. Starting to take vitamin C once you already have cold symptoms won't have any effect on your cold.

Advise all employees to stay home if they are sick until for at least 24 hours, both are true: their symptoms are getting better overall and they have not had fever (and are not using fever-reducing medications).

A recent study at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in the US suggested that the amount of nasal bacteria (specifically staphylococcus and moraxella), as well as the amount of cold virus present in the body, may influence the type and severity of the cold symptoms people develop.

A reduction in symptoms means a cold is starting to go away. A person may feel less congested, no longer have a sore throat, or feel less tired, for example. Another sign the cold may be going away is if a person feels like resuming their usual activities or no longer notices their symptoms.

In general, viruses thrive in cooler temperatures. In contrast, sustained cold temperatures may impact body temperatures, and a lower body temperature may leave you with your defenses down. Similarly, breathing in dry air may exacerbate the symptoms of the cold or flu.

How can I get rid of a cold in 24 hours? Unfortunately, there is still no known cure for the common cold. However, you can reduce the duration of your illness by taking some promising vitamins and supplements, as well as engaging in good self-care. This includes vitamin C, Zinc, echinacea, and probiotics.

No scientific evidence supports sweating out a cold. However, a person may find some relief through light exercise or taking in steam from saunas, showers, or bowls of hot water. To recover from a cold, a person needs to rest and drink plenty of fluids.

Runny Nose/Nasal Congestion—A runny nose helps wash germs from the nose and sinuses. Coughing and Sneezing—Within a few days of a viral infection, the fluid from a runny nose may change color from clear to yellow to green.