You’re probably experiencing it already. A friend cancelled dinner the other day because they’re “coming down with something.” A colleague started coughing across the office. The group chat is filling with messages about fevers, body aches, and that unmistakable sense of being wiped out overnight. Or maybe you’re one of the unlucky ones, waking up heavy-limbed, head throbbing, throat sore, wondering how it happened so fast.
Unmistakably, something is going around. But before you rush to the pharmacy, here are some things to try first.
1. Hit the sauna
This is a favourite of founder Niall. Whenever he’s been around people who are ill, or feels that familiar “something’s coming” sensation, an evening sauna session is his first move.
Used early, sauna works by mimicking a mild fever. Raising core body temperature makes it harder for viruses to replicate, while simultaneously increasing circulation and immune cell activity. White blood cells become more mobile, lymphatic flow improves, and the immune system gets a head start before symptoms fully land.
This definitely isn’t something to force during full-blown illness or an active fever. But used preventatively, or at the very first signs, sauna often shortens or stops an illness before it has the chance to take hold.
2. Take a few drops of oregano oil
Oregano oil is one of those old-world remedies with scientific backing.It’s rich in carvacrol and thymol, compounds with strong antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal activity. In plain terms: it creates an internal environment that’s much harder for pathogens to thrive in.
When taken early, oregano oil doesn’t “nuke” symptoms the way flu tablets do. Instead, it supports the immune system in doing what it’s already trying to do: contain and clear the invader. It helps reduce viral load, modulates inflammation, and can shorten the duration of illness if used at the first sign of that scratchy-throat, heavy-head feeling. If you’re someone who always says “I never get sick, until I suddenly do,” oregano oil is often the difference between a brief wobble and a full week written off.
3. Check you’re not under fuelled
One of the fastest ways to weaken immune response is undereating. When calorie intake drops, the body prioritises survival systems over immune output. Thyroid conversion slows, cortisol rises, and white blood cell production becomes less efficient.
Many people feel flu-like not because the virus is overwhelming, but because the body doesn’t have enough energy to mount a proper response.
4. Stay cosy at all times
The rhinovirus, the most common cause of colds, replicates best at cooler temperatures, around 33–35°C. Drop your core body temperature even slightly, and you create a friendlier environment for it to multiply.
A warm core temperature, on the other hand, suppresses viral replication and supports the production of interferons, the immune system’s frontline messengers that interfere with viruses before they gain momentum.
People with resilient metabolisms who maintain warmth easily often “get away” with exposure without ever falling ill. So think cosily… warm baths, wool socks, layered clothing, and yes, a hat (the scalp loses heat quickly). Preventing even mild hypothermia can be the difference between exposure and infection.
5. Lymphatic massage
Did you know you can actively assist your immune system, and quite literally help move illness out of the body, through massage?
The lymphatic system is your body’s internal clean-up network. It collects viral particles, inflammatory waste, dead immune cells, and toxins from tissues and transports them to lymph nodes for processing and removal. But it has no pump of its own. If it isn’t stimulated, that waste sits and lingers, intensifying symptoms and slowing recovery.
Lymphatic massage gently but deliberately moves this fluid. With light, rhythmic strokes, you physically encourage lymph to drain out of congested areas and toward the nodes where pathogens are neutralised. This is why tenderness in the neck, jaw, armpits, or chest often softens quickly after lymphatic work, stagnation is clearing.
6. Kaya’s Polish grandad’s flu syrup
Now I had to add in this personal favourite, because it’s the one thing my family has always returned to whenever anyone gets sick. I’m not even sure where my grandad originally got it from, but trust me, it works (and you can feel it working).
- 2 onions
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 2 teaspoons of honey
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 20 drops of propolis (optional)
Everything goes into a sealed jar and sits at room temperature for 2–3 days. You strain it and drink only the syrup that forms.
He did also add a shot of vodka to his, to “help it travel faster.” I won’t recommend that part, but the rest has more than earned its place as a family staple.
7. Don’t suppress a fever immediately
Before you immediately reach for a cold and flu tablet, it’s worth understanding why a fever shows up in the first place. A fever isn’t the illness, it’s the response. When your immune system detects a virus, it deliberately raises your core body temperature to create an environment that’s harder for pathogens to survive.
A fever also signals the release of cytokines and interferons, immune messengers that coordinate the attack and limit viral spread. Suppressing a fever too early can interfere with this process. Cold and flu medications may reduce discomfort, but they also remove one of the immune system’s key advantages, which can sometimes prolong how long the illness lingers.
This doesn’t mean you should ignore high or dangerous fevers, or push through severe symptoms. But mild to moderate fevers early on are often doing exactly what they’re meant to do. Sometimes the most supportive move is to rest, hydrate, and let the body finish the job it’s already started.
8. Drink a glass of slightly warmed milk
Lysine is an essential amino acid with antiviral properties. Many common viruses rely on another amino acid, arginine, to replicate. Lysine competes with arginine for absorption and uptake, essentially making it harder for viruses to multiply. When lysine intake is higher, viral replication becomes less efficient.
Of all foods, milk happens to have one of the highest lysine-to-arginine ratios, meaning it naturally shifts the internal environment away from what viruses prefer and toward conditions that support immune defence.
9. Bone broth
Bone broth is one of the simplest ways to support the immune system when you’re fighting something, or trying not to. Slow-simmered bones release glycine, proline, glutamine, and minerals that are deeply supportive during illness.
That gelatine from the bones coats and soothes the gut lining, supports connective tissue repair, and provides glycine in particularly high amounts, all crucial when the body is inflamed and under immune stress.
10. Have an early bedtime
A large proportion of immune activity, including antibody production and immune cell coordination, happens during deep sleep between 10pm and 2am.
This window matters. Melatonin peaks during these hours, and beyond regulating sleep, it acts as a powerful immune modulator and antioxidant. Even if total sleep time stays the same, sleeping before 10pm gives your immune system access to its most productive hours.
11. Echinacea
Echinacea is one of the most researched herbal immune supports. Echinacea stimulates immune activity by increasing the production and responsiveness of white blood cells, particularly macrophages, the cells responsible for engulfing and clearing pathogens.
12. Increase electrolyte intake
When your immune system is activated, your demand for minerals rises sharply. Fever, inflammation, and stress hormones all increase sodium loss through sweat, urine, and respiration.
Salt plays a direct role in maintaining blood volume, moving lymph, and allowing nutrients and immune cells to circulate properly. Adding electrolytes doesn’t need to be complicated. A pinch of good-quality salt in water, mineral-rich broths, or salted foods can quickly stabilise the system.
13. And while you’re there, gargle salt water
Many respiratory viruses first take hold in the throat, and saline creates an environment that’s far less friendly for them to linger and replicate. A warm glass of water with a good pinch of salt, gargled for 20–30 seconds a few times a day, is often enough.
14. Support aches with magnesium
Those deep, heavy body aches that make you want to melt into the sofa are usually a mix of inflammation and nervous system tension. Magnesium helps muscles unclench, calms stress hormones, and supports cellular energy when everything feels heavy and sore.
An Epsom salt bath is one of the gentlest ways to deliver it. The warmth and steam often double up as gentle steam inhalation, helping to open airways, thin mucus, and clear up the blocked nose trenches.
15. Add 2 tbsp of baking soda to your bath
And while you’re in that bath… add baking soda. When baking soda dissolves in warm water, it releases carbon dioxide, creating those soft, fizzing bubbles that gently cling to the skin. CO₂ improves circulation by encouraging blood vessels to dilate, helping oxygen and nutrients reach tissues more easily while metabolic waste is cleared more efficiently.
16. Eat liver (just a little)
Liver is loaded with vitamin A, zinc, copper, and B vitamins, nutrients that directly support immune cell differentiation and mucosal integrity. Vitamin A, in particular, plays a key role in respiratory immune defence.
You don’t need much. A small portion once or twice during illness can meaningfully replenish what the immune system is burning through at speed.
17. Reduce decision making
Cognitive load is physiological stress. Even low-level mental effort burns through glucose and quietly raises cortisol, the very hormone that suppresses immune function when it stays elevated.
When your body is fighting something, mental efficiency matters as much as physical rest. Cancel plans. Say no without explanation. Eat the same meal twice. Remove as many micro-decisions as possible.
18. Change your bedsheets
I know, changing your bedsheets when you’re already ill sounds like the most hellish punishment imaginable. It’s the last thing anyone wants to do when all you want is to crawl back under the covers.
But it’s surprisingly worth it. When you’re sick, your bed holds onto heat, moisture, sweat, and microbial debris. Changing your bedsheets refreshes that environment, reducing lingering pathogens and making sleep more comfortable and restorative.
19. Sip thyme tea
Thyme contains compounds like thymol and carvacrol that have antimicrobial and antiviral properties, particularly for the respiratory tract. Traditionally, it’s been used for sore throats, chest tightness, and stubborn coughs because it helps relax the airways, thin mucus, and make life harder for whatever’s irritating your throat.
20. Manually drain your sinuses
Whenever you feel particularly attacked by a blocked nose, this is one of the simplest things you can do, and it takes less than two minutes.
Start at the top of the nose where it meets the eyebrows. Using firm but comfortable pressure, sweep your fingers downward along both sides of the nose, then out across the cheeks, and finally down the sides of the neck. Always move downward.
It sounds almost too simple, but try it and you’ll see what I mean. It’s one of those rare tricks where the relief is immediate enough to make you go, oh… that actually worked.
21. Let yourself be ill
If you’re in the depths of a cold, you’ve tried everything on this list, and you’re still telling yourself you can push through, optimise a bit harder, and be “back on it” for work by Monday, this is the part to read twice.
When symptoms are suppressed with medication and rest is withheld, the immune response never fully completes. Instead, illness retreats, then returns, showing up as lingering colds, half-well weeks, or that on-and-off sickness that seems to stretch through the entire winter.
Letting yourself be ill doesn’t mean suffering unnecessarily, but it is important to give your immune system the space to finish the job properly. Rest deeply. Cancel what you can. Eat simply. Sleep more than feels necessary. Sometimes the fastest way back to functioning is to stop trying to override the process and let the body do exactly what it’s designed to do. Remember, it’s always working to support you, even when it doesn’t feel like it.
