It Turns Out Drinking Some Whiskey Can Help Curb Your Cold Symptoms

If you're ever bored of tea or soup, there's a much more creative way to handle the common cold.

It's called the hot toddy, a traditional alcoholic cocktail that clears the sinuses and puts the aching body at ease.

The essential ingredients are whiskey, honey, lemon juice and hot water.

Whiskey is what produces the drink's unique effect, and the Huffington Post quotes Vanderbilt University Medical Center chair of preventative medicine Dr. William Schaffner explaining how it helps a runny nose.

He told ABC News,

The alcohol dilates blood vessels a little bit, and that makes it easier for your mucus membranes to deal with the infection.

Yet anyone who has made the mistake of drinking while sick understands that only a little bit of alcohol will help.

More than one drink will dehydrate you and therefore only make you feel worse.

That's why you should have just one hot toddy and follow it with a nice helping of water.

Here's San Francisco bartender Jacques Bezuidenhout explaining how to make the perfect hot toddy:

Citations: Drinking A Little Whiskey Might Actually Help Relieve Cold Symptoms (The Huffington Post)