How long do colds last?

Most colds will not last longer than 10 days.

Of course, some people recover sooner than others, and this depends on two factors – the virus which has infected you and the state of your immune system.

Although we tend to speak of ‘the common cold’ virus, there are in fact over 200 different types and sub-types of viruses that can cause these infections of your upper airways. And, this is before we start considering the influenza viruses which often give symptoms indistinguishable from that of a cold. Some of these viruses tend to cause more symptoms than others and hence, your body might take longer to recover.

In addition, the ability of your body to fight off an infection depends on how ‘strong’ your immune system is. Both stress and lack of sleep are common factors affecting our immune response and this is the reason that someone who has worries at home or work, or putting in long hours in the office, can be more prone to colds and take longer to shake the symptoms off.

To help speed up your recovery time if you have a cold, you could try Echinaforce® which is traditionally used for colds and flu and works by strengthening your immune system.

The same Echinacea extract can now be found in the Echinaforce^® Hot Drink, which also contains concentrated Elderberry (Sambucus) juice to produce a soothing and palatable hot drink, which helps to relieve the symptoms of the common cold and influenza type infections.

If your cold persists for longer than 10 days, you should seek the advice of a doctor. This is in order to rule out an additional infection in the body (termed a secondary infection) or other health conditions which need attention.

I hope that this information is helpful to you.