This week I’ve been fighting a cold. And when I say fighting, I mean it. I’ve gone to war against the rhinoviruses, armed with a medicine cupboard of cure-alls.
Along the way I’ve choked back vitamins, slathered myself in vapour rubs, simmered tinctures, steamed internal canals and nearly waterboarded myself with a neti pot. I’m clearly not alone. According to health experts, we’re amid a virus soup of COVID, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus that is sweeping Victoria and NSW .
For some people, supplements are taking the place of tried and true health treatments like rest and hydration. Credit: iStock I’ve done (almost) everything I can think of to support my mucus-leaking body. But for all the semi, pseudo and legitimate science I’ve digested, there is one very logical piece of advice I can’t seem to stomach: drinking water.
No matter how much fluid I lose out of my ears, eyes and sweat glands, the thought of downing a few cool glasses of H2O just never really occurs to me. This resistance to the cheapest, easiest and most proven self-care technique isn’t a new aversion, either . For most of my life, I’ve been willing to do pretty much anything in the quest for good health, except follow the most obvious and commonly recommended treatments .
Why eat an orange and increase my vitamin C levels when I could shotgun a sachet of lab-derived vitamin goo? Who has time for spinach when I could be spending 10 times that on sea moss? What’s so great abou.