Are hot showers good for colds? When you’ve got a cold and you’re not feeling your best, you may be looking for simple remedies to help you alleviate your symptoms and feel a lot better.
Many people often wonder, Do hot showers help with colds, If you’re asking the same question, you’ll be pleased to know that they can definitely help ease your symptoms. Because the common cold is a viral infection, taking a hot, steamy shower isn’t going to cure your cold or get rid of the virus.
But you may find that it can help with some of the symptoms that come with having a cold, such as congestion and a sore throat. However, in order to ensure that you actually benefit from taking a hot shower and are able to reduce or support the symptoms that go along with it, you need to approach it in the right way.
So, in this blog post, we’re going to dive deeper into the question: are showers good for colds? With actionable advice and broken-down theory, you should find that you’re able to ease the symptoms of a cold and speed up your recovery.
Let’s take a look.
How Do Hot Showers Affect Cold Symptoms?
While taking a hot shower isn’t going to suddenly cure your cold, you may find that it gives you some temporary relief from the symptoms. Congestion, sore throats, and even tight or sore muscles are common occurrences when you have a cold.
They can make you feel rotten, run down, and affect your day-to-day life. So, it makes sense that you want to alleviate them as much as you can.
When you take a hot shower, the heat of the water and the subsequent steam that is generated can open up your airways, clear your nasal passage, and ease your sore throat–including any cough symptoms too.
This happens when the heat and steam work to loosen the mucus you have in your ENT system and relieve the congestion you’re feeling. Heat is also known to improve your circulation by encouraging vasodilation, the process of widening the blood vessels to support blood flow.
This then helps to reduce pain, stiffness, and helps your muscles relax.
Can Hot Showers Help You Recover Faster?
Because a common cold is a virus, it isn’t usually possible to cure it. Instead, it’s important to seek temporary relief from any symptoms that come along with the virus, while your body fights it off.
This is why supporting your body during the process is always a good idea. Plus, it’s always better to ensure that you’re comfortable when you’re sick, rather than suffering for longer. While a hot shower won’t always help you recover faster, it will provide you with temporary relief.
Here, you really want to work on supporting your immune system. So, along with staying hydrated and ensuring that you’re getting enough vitamins, you really want to promote relaxation.
One of the best ways to do this is to keep your body calm, relaxed, and aid in a better night’s sleep. When you’re sleeping, your body is able to then get to work on fighting the virus, repairing the body, and look at replenishing your energy stores. To do this, you’ll find that taking a hot shower is going to make you feel more relaxed.
The heat from the higher temperature will relax your muscles and support you while getting to sleep.
Are There Any Downsides to Taking Hot Showers When Sick?
As with many solutions, there will often be downsides that you’ll want to make note of. When you’re sick, you need to ensure that you’re supporting your body as best as you can. This means being careful when it comes to unintentionally worsening symptoms.
You may be at risk of dehydration or irritating your skin with a hot shower, especially if you have sensitive skin. In instances such as this, it might be best for you to adjust the temperature of your shower or limit its duration.
At the same time, if you have asthma, you may want to consult your doctor before trying any home remedies.
How to Maximize the Benefits of Hot Showers for a Cold
If you’re looking to improve your cold symptoms or find relief from your symptoms with a hot shower, it’s important to approach it in the right way. We’re now going to take a look at four key things that you’ll want to do to get the maximum benefits out of taking a hot shower to help with your cold.
Let’s get into it.
Ideal water temperature and duration
To make sure that your hot shower isn’t too hot, you may want to aim for a temperature between 98°F (37°C) and 104°F (40°C). This will enable you to experience some relief from symptoms, without harming yourself.
In terms of the optimal shower duration, a relatively short shower of 5-10 minutes will allow you to see relief without overdoing it.
Essential oils for enhanced relief
You may also want to consider using essential oils such a eucalyptus or peppermint to support the relief process. However, you need to make sure that you’re using the safely. One of the best ways to do this is with the washcloth method.
To do this, put a few drops of your chosen essential oil on a washcloth and place it in the shower with you, where the steam will be able to diffuse the aromas without you having to have direct contact with them.
Breathing techniques for better steam absorption
Alongside this, you can also think about using different breathing or breathwork techniques that will allow you to absorb the steam more efficiently.
To help open up your airways, breathe in slowly through your nose for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 4 seconds, then breathe out through your mouth for 4 seconds, exhaling as long as you can.
This enables you to properly absorb the steam and ensures that your passageways are decongested in the process. Just make sure that you are doing this carefully, and if you do have any conditions, like asthma, that you consult your doctor before trying this out.
Post-shower care to extend benefits
Alongside maximizing your time in the shower, you may want to ensure that your aftercare supports your relief and recovery, too. Once you are out of the shower, make sure that you stay warm to keep the circulatory benefits going for longer.
Alongside this, you need to remember to stay hydrated. This will prevent you from overheating and continue to support the thinning of your mucus. You could also look to use soothing or decongesting balms on your chest, too.
Where you can, aim to rest as much as possible, and you can also look to consume warm fluids, such as herbal tea, to continue to relieve your symptoms.
Alternative Remedies to Hot Showers for Cold Relief
If you’re not sure whether you want to take a hot shower to relieve your cold symptoms, there are other options you can try. Humidifiers provide a similar experience to a hot shower, but they may not be as effective as they are dispersed more throughout the room. Steam inhalation could also be beneficial.
However, while this can provide you with steam to open up your passageways, you won’t get the benefit of improved circulation or muscle relaxation from the heat of the water on your body.
Can Shower Filters Improve Cold and Respiratory Relief?
If you’re looking to utilize your shower to help support your recovery from having a cold, you may also want to take a look at installing a shower filter. Shower filters can reduce irritants like chlorine in the water that may be worsening your symptoms.
If you know that you want to enjoy reducing respiratory irritation, picking up a shower filter could help you with this. At AquaBliss, we have a range of shower filters to support you with this.
By using a water-purifying shower head, you’ll be able to filter out harmful chemicals and improve your shower experience overall.
Hot Showers: Can They Really Help Your Cold?
It’s easy to wonder, do hot showers help with colds—and in most cases, they do! While you won’t be able to cure your cold with one shower, you can gain temporary relief from the symptoms that come along with it. If you know that congestion, a sore throat, and muscle pain are symptoms you regularly experience, taking a hot shower can remedy this.
In summary, hot showers are good for colds. They help to open up your passageways, alleviate congestion, and improve circulation. This all helps to reduce the amount of congestion and pain you may experience.
If you’re looking to create a go-to routine for the times when you have a cold, taking a 5-10 minute warm shower may really help you. You may also find that a hot shower helps you to feel more relaxed and enables you to sleep better.
All of which are essential when you’re looking to support your body as it fights off a cold.
