Most sore throats are caused by viral infections and will resolve on their own within a few days, but that doesn’t mean you need to suffer through it. A combination of simple home remedies, the right over-the-counter products, and a few environmental adjustments can significantly reduce pain and help you heal faster.
Gargle With Salt Water
A salt water gargle is one of the fastest, cheapest ways to reduce throat pain and swelling. The salt draws excess fluid out of inflamed tissue, which temporarily shrinks swelling and eases discomfort. Dissolve roughly half a teaspoon of table salt in eight ounces of warm water, gargle for 15 to 30 seconds, and spit it out. You can repeat this up to four times a day.
Use Honey as a Cough and Pain Reliever
Honey is more than a folk remedy. A systematic review of 14 studies found that honey outperformed usual care for reducing cough frequency, cough severity, and overall symptom scores in upper respiratory infections. It coats and soothes irritated tissue, and its thick consistency helps it cling to the throat longer than most liquids. Stir a tablespoon into warm tea or take it straight off the spoon.
One important exception: never give honey to children under 12 months old, due to the risk of infant botulism.
Choose Your Drink Temperature Wisely
Both warm and cold liquids help a sore throat, but they work differently. Warm drinks relax the muscles around your throat and increase blood flow to the area, which supports healing. A small study found that a hot beverage relieved sore throat symptoms while the same drink at room temperature did not. Tea with honey, warm broth, and warm water with lemon are all good options.
Cold drinks and frozen treats like popsicles or ice chips work by numbing the tissue and temporarily reducing swelling. If your throat feels raw and inflamed, the numbing effect of something cold can provide faster (though shorter-lived) pain relief. The tradeoff is that prolonged cold exposure can slow blood flow and potentially delay healing, so alternate between warm and cold based on what feels best in the moment.
Regardless of temperature, staying well hydrated keeps your throat moist and helps thin mucus. Dehydration makes everything worse.
Try Throat-Coating Herbs
Marshmallow root and slippery elm are traditional remedies that have a real mechanism behind them. Both contain mucilage, a type of complex sugar molecule that absorbs water and swells into a gel. When you drink a tea or lozenge made from these herbs, that gel physically coats your throat lining and reinforces your body’s natural mucus barrier. Marshmallow root appears to go a step further by stimulating the cells that produce your throat’s own protective mucus. Look for marshmallow root or slippery elm in tea form or as lozenges at most health food stores.
Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers
Standard pain relievers like ibuprofen and acetaminophen are effective for sore throat pain. Ibuprofen has the added benefit of reducing inflammation, which can help with swelling. Follow the dosing instructions on the package, and keep in mind that the daily maximum for acetaminophen is 4,000 milligrams across all sources (including combination cold medicines that may also contain it).
For more targeted relief, throat sprays and lozenges containing numbing agents like benzocaine, menthol, or dyclonine can be used every two to three hours. These provide temporary, localized pain relief right where you need it. Menthol-based lozenges also create a cooling sensation that can make swallowing feel less painful.
Adjust Your Environment
Dry air pulls moisture from your throat lining, which intensifies soreness. If you’re running a heater or live in a dry climate, a humidifier in your bedroom can make a noticeable difference. Aim for indoor humidity between 30% and 50%. Too far above 50% encourages mold and dust mites, which can irritate your throat for entirely different reasons. A simple hygrometer (available for a few dollars at hardware stores) lets you check your levels.
Foods to Eat and Avoid
What you eat matters more than usual when your throat is inflamed. Soft, cool, or lukewarm foods are easiest to tolerate: yogurt (without crunchy mix-ins like granola), scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, smoothies, and warm soups or broths. These go down without scraping already irritated tissue.
Foods to avoid until you’re feeling better:
- Acidic foods and juices like orange, grapefruit, tomato, lemon, and pineapple, which can sting raw tissue
- Spicy foods that further irritate inflamed membranes
- Hard or crunchy foods like dry toast, crackers, or chips
- Very hot foods or drinks that can scald sensitive tissue
- Alcohol and carbonated beverages, both of which can dry out or irritate the throat
When a Sore Throat Needs Medical Attention
Most sore throats clear up within a few days. But some symptoms point to something more serious, like a bacterial strep infection or a developing abscess. Doctors use a set of four criteria to estimate the likelihood of strep: fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher, swollen lymph nodes at the front of your neck, white patches or swelling on your tonsils, and the absence of a cough. If you have three or four of these, a rapid strep test or throat culture is the next step, since strep requires antibiotics to prevent complications.
The CDC lists several symptoms that warrant prompt medical attention: difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing, blood in your saliva or phlegm, excessive drooling in young children, signs of dehydration, joint swelling and pain, or a rash. A sore throat that doesn’t improve within a few days, or one that keeps getting worse, also calls for a visit.