All our life we have heard that gargling with salt water can help cure a sore throat.
But before you do gargling with salt water you should know this. Is it really helpful?
Truth is that saltwater does help alleviate the pain of a sore throat. “My kids know that gargling with salt water is the first thing I tell them to do when they have a sore throat,” says Sam Huh, MD, chief of otolaryngology at Mount Sinai Brooklyn.
The bad news: Saltwater doesn’t cure a sore throat. Dr. Huh says sore throat go away on their own in three to seven days.
For the most part, your body has all the tools it needs to cure a sore throat. But it takes time, and we don’t want to bear the pain so we choose this trick. Gargling salt water is one of the tricks that can help make sore throats a little less painful.
Does gargling saltwater kill bacteria in the throat?
“Saltwater is hypertonic,” Dr. Huh says. It means that saltwater has a higher osmotic pressure than the fluid in your cells. So when you submerge the cells in your throat in saltwater, the liquid in your cells gets drawn to the surface and so does any virus or bacteria that are in your throat.
How much salt should you use to make a saltwater gargle for a sore throat?
If you don’t like swishing something so salty in your mouth, you might be tempted to put the teeniest bit of salt in your glass.
“The water has to be hypertonic,” Dr. Huh says. “Think about how tears taste salty. It has to be saltier than that.” Doctors suggest putting a quarter teaspoon of salt into a half cup of warm water.
How often should I gargle with salt water?
When you take gargle with saltwater, you start feeling better within 24 hours, Dr. Huh says. But, you have to do it regularly to get rid of this pain.
Can everyone use saltwater gargle?
If you have high blood pressure, skip the salt water gargle. “Every time we gargle, we’re going to accidentally swallow some,” Dr. Huh says. It is not dangerous for people with normal blood pressure, but with high blood pressure, people should stay away from the saltwater and try something else instead.
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