A cough is an action your body takes to get rid of substances that are irritating to your air passages, which carry the air you breathe in from the nose and mouth to the lungs. A cough occurs when special cells along the air passages get irritated and trigger a chain of events. Air in your lungs is forced out under high pressure.

Causes of Cough

Common causes of Cough are:

1.    Acute sinusitis

2.    Pertussis (whooping cough)

3.    Asthma

4.    Weather changes

5.    Inflammation of larynx or pharynx

6.    Smoking

7.    Allergies such as dust, smoke, pollen grains and chemical fumes.

What can I do to prevent it?

Here are some of the simple tips to prevent cough:

1.    Avoid cold foods as these can aggravate the throat further.
2.    Avoid any type of sugar, chocolates, meat and fried food to decrease mucus production.

3.    Stay away from secondhand cigarette smoke and airborne irritants (such as smoke, dust, or other pollutants) which may be present at your home or workplace.

4.    Mild walking every day in fresh air for twenty minutes can help shorten the duration of the cold by strengthening the body's resistance.

Symptoms of Cough

Following are the signs that indicate the presence of this ailment:

1.    Running or blocked nose

2.    Sneezing

3.    Sore throat

4.    Congestion

5.    Headache

6.    Low fever with body pain

7.    Loss of appetite

8.    Lethargy

9.    Insomnia

Home Remedies to Avoid Cough

1.    An effective remedy for treating cough would to slightly cut a lemon and fill it with black pepper. Suck this as it would reduce the cough.

2.    One of the easiest methods would be to add a pinch of grounded white pepper in one tea spoon of pure honey. Intake this 2 to 3 times a day for about 4 to 5 days.

3.    Grapes tone up the lungs and act as expectorant. Increase in the consumption would be favorable in curing cough.

4.    Take 1-2 gm each of black pepper, long pepper, and dry ginger. Make a mixture of these ingredients and have it along with honey for 2-3 days.

5.    Increase in the consumption of garlic also acts beneficial in treating cough.

6.    Gargle with warm spinach juice. This is helpful in curing dry cough.

7.    For people suffering from dry cough, mix half spoon of Cuscus grass (khas khas) in 3-4 teaspoons of coconut milk. To enhance the efficacy, add one teaspoon of honey. Drink this before going to bed.

8.    Take 100 grams of raisins and grind it with some water. Add 100 grams of sugar and heat the mixture till it turns saucy. Intake about 20 grams of this every day before sleeping at night.

9.    Prepare a tea. Add aniseed and holy basil to it. Drink this tea at least twice a day to get relief from relief from cough.

10.    Soak almonds overnight. In the morning, remove their brown cover and make a paste adding 20gm of butter and sugar to it. Have this twice a day in the morning as well as in the evening.

11.    Another effective home remedy would be to chew 4 basil leaves and black pepper. It would provide instant relief and treat the cough quickly.