I have a love hate relationship with winters. I love how winters bring with them cozy evenings, endless hot chocolates, dried flowers teas and warm blankets. The part I hate is what comes along with the seasonal changes and cold winter nights, the stuffed chests, sneezing, breathing issues because of stuffed noses, watery eyes and that banging sensation in head all the time.. I get chills thinking about it (pun intended). The situation has gone bad to worse in the last few winters with the increase in smog (smoke+pollution) that takes over the skies of cities making the winters even more difficult.
The entire episode was becoming more frequent for me in the past few years. Post-Diwali tensions, sudden dips in the weather, and standing in traffic would have me coughing or dealing with sinus pressure for days. Mix a little bit of stress from life - late nights, secondhand smoke at parties - and it all just gets worse. Honestly speaking, popping those pills every other day did not seem like a long-term solution.
So I turned towards natural fixes, slowly adding them into my routine. Surprisingly, they worked better than I expected. I’ll share a few that have made winters more bearable for me, simple things like eucalyptus honey, chamomile tea, rhododendron tea, and propolis. They’re not some fancy hacks but age-old remedies that still hold true today.
Why Winters Feel Heavier on Our Lungs and Sinuses
I read somewhere (and also saw on news reports by CPCB) that after October, pollution levels in cities like Delhi, Jaipur, and Lucknow shoot up and stay in the “severe” range for weeks. That explains why even healthy people start feeling irritation in their throats and eyes. For people like us who are already prone to allergies, it’s like a double attack-smog outside and dust trapped indoors when we shut windows.
No wonder my nose feels blocked more often in winter than in monsoon.
Eucalyptus Honey – My Go-To Sweet Relief
This is one of the first natural swaps I made. A spoonful of raw eucalyptus honey in warm water has been a blessing on nights when I couldn’t stop coughing. It doesn’t just soothe the throat but also feels like it opens up the chest a little. Unlike normal processed honey from supermarkets, raw honey has those tiny natural compounds intact, and the eucalyptus in it makes it even more helpful when sinuses are inflamed.
On bad days, I take it twice a day - morning and before bed. It feels much lighter than relying on cough syrups.
Chamomile Tea – Not Just for Sleep
At first, I only thought of chamomile tea as something people drink for good sleep. But when I started taking it regularly during allergy season, I realized it also helps calm inflammation. A warm cup in the evening eases that scratchy throat feeling and strangely also helps with blocked sinuses. Maybe it’s because I sleep deeper after it, and the body gets more time to recover.
If you’re struggling with allergies and restless nights, chamomile tea is something worth trying.
Rhododendron Tea – A Little Gift From the Hills
This one is special because I came across it while traveling in Himachal. Locals there brew rhododendron flowers into tea, especially during season changes, to fight cough and cold. The taste is slightly tangy but refreshing, and it really warms you up from within. I carried a small pack home and since then, it’s been part of my “winter remedies” basket.
It’s not something you’ll find at every corner shop, but organic stores have started stocking it. If you’re tired of the usual green or herbal teas, this one is definitely worth exploring.
Propolis – The Bee’s Secret
Now this is something I didn’t even know about until last year. Being a sticky resin, propolis is said to have lots of antioxidants. I first tried it in drops (mixed in warm water), and it seemed to coat the throat with protection. Whenever smoke or dust was in excess, it acted to traipse away that raw, burning feeling.
Many take it for general immunity; however, for me, it is more about calmness of seasonal irritation. It is available in capsule, powdered, or liquid forms; just be sure it is organic and not mixed with bogus fillers.
Why Organic Matters- Especially Today
One thing I've learned through my forays into remedies is, quality matters. For instance, when I first tried store-ground chamomile, it hardly gave an aroma or worked. But once I went organic and used naturally dried flowers, that was a big change. Same with honey, pure, raw honey behaves very differently from the sugar-laden commercial ones.
If you think going organic is being fancy, you are absolutely wrong. Think about it, it is like putting more chemicals, adulteration in your daily life in an already corrupted system of products and services. Always go for products that have government and international certifications, that have a vision of sustainability, says no to any harmful practices and even better if they have a physical farm/place where you can visit to witness the kind od sourcing done for all theur offered products range.
Small Lifestyle Fixes That Help Alongside
These remedies work best with the small lifestyle changes listed below.. A few that have helped me:
● Steam inhalation plus one drop of eucalyptus oil when one feels with the nose completely clogged.
● Enough water intake (easy to forget during winters but is super-important).
● Using natural air purifiers like bees wax candles, dusting regularly as most of the time is spent indoors these days.
● If you are someone thinking to quit for sometime, seasonal changes are the best time. If not then emphasise on Cutting down on smoke exposure be it through bonfires or cigarettes or other related things.
● Organic and naturally warm food such as honey-ginger tea, lakadong turmeric (higher circumin) milk, or honey soaked nuts should be added to your regular diet for overall immunity.
Seasonal allergy might not go in a matter of days, but managing it does not need always to be a dreaded pharmacy ride. Slowly going into solutions of mother nature, like eucalyptus honey, chamomile, rhododendron tea, and propolis, has made my winters grow increasingly simple to endure.
They are comforting remedies to symptoms, with an added layer of comfort that eases the depression in the season.
