Germ season has been going great guns for months now but that doesn’t mean the illnesses are abating. Oh no, if anything, post-Christmas we seem to be sicker than ever.
With the kids heading back to school and nursery this week, it’s likely we’ll see another resurgence of bugs doing the rounds – so you might want to take heed of some expert health advice that’s been doing the rounds on social media.
Dr Meghan Martin, an emergency medicine physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, shared a video on Instagram discussing how salt water nasal drops or sprays could reduce the risk of kids spreading their colds to other family members.
The inexpensive remedy – which can be found in most supermarkets and drugstores – can also reduce the length of time a child is sick with symptoms, according to a study.
What did the study find?
The study involved 407 children up to six years old. Kids treated with a specially formulated saline nasal solution experienced cold symptoms for an average of six days compared to eight days in those who didn’t have it.
Two days might not seem like much but any parent will know that when kids are sick, every hour feels like an eternity and if that’s two fewer sleepless nights we’ll take it.
The kids had three drops in each nostril, three times a day for five days.
The reduction in how long kids were sick for also correlated with a decreased likelihood of other family members catching the cold. Result.
“The findings are promising,” said Professor Steve Cunningham, member of the ELVIS (Edinburgh and Lothian Virus Intervention Study) Kids randomised controlled trial team.
“Using salt water nasal drops not only shortened the duration of illness but also reduced the need for other medications, benefiting the entire household by facilitating a quicker return to normal activities.”
How does it work?
Jared Stockwell, an ICU pharmacist, said on social media: “The salt in the solution helps nasal cells produce hypochlorous acid, a natural virus fighter.”
This process supposedly prevents viruses from replicating in the nose, which in turn helps kids recover faster.
The saline solution used in the study is not available from the shops and needed to be prepared by parents at home – but experts have since suggested shop-bought nasal spray or nasal drops with 3% saline should work in a similar way.
In a video posted on Instagram, Dr Meghan Martin (aka @dr.beachgem10) said of the study’s findings: “There is some evidence it works in adults as well ... This is cheap, this is easy and this is low risk and you can get better faster and get fewer people sick which is pretty cool.”
We’ll spray to that!