Before becoming a parent, it’s quite simple to underestimate how frequently kids have coughs, colds and fevers.
When your children are sick, it may feel like a never-ending roller-coaster of runny noses, restless nights and missed school days. You also run the risk of falling ill yourself.
One of the most recent tips that has gained popularity on social media claims that wet socks might assist with fevers and colds.
Social media is full of tips and guidance about how to treat or relieve illnesses. Instagram feeds and TikTok “for you” pages are flooded with postings encouraging parents to put ill children to bed wearing a pair of sopping wet socks.
This social media craze claims that covering a youngster with cold, damp socks overnight will help prevent sickness and improve their condition.
Sprint Medicine claims that wet sock therapy, despite the term probably sounding strange to most of you, is an efficient hydrotherapy treatment. Wearing damp socks while you sleep triggers your body’s defences against infection.
@tinyjellow This wet socks remedy is the truth as long as you do this when you first see symptoms it will knock the cold or flu right out. I don’t know what’s going on this season but this cold/flu season is not it. #momsoftiktok #momhacks #momtipsandstricks #momtips #firsttimemomtips #tinyjellow #fyp #mom #coldremedies #flu ♬ Players - DJ Smallz 732 - Jersey Club Remix - Coi Leray
The use of hydrotherapy is one of the oldest conventional therapies, claims Naturopathic Paediatrics. Baths, steams, pour-over treatments, and the use of wet towels or sheets are just a few examples of the many various forms of hydrotherapy.
Despite the fact that the treatment is cold, it is referred to as a “hot compress” since the body must heat the chilly, wet socks.
According to “Health for Life”, a naturopathic medical newspaper, blood circulation is enhanced in response to the cold, which boosts the body’s immune system, a natural means of warding off the flu or cold and other illnesses.
These social media posts claim that the body strives to thaw damp feet by increasing blood circulation. Theoretically, this boosts the immune system and aids in moving diseases into the circulation, where the body can then eliminate them.
Reflexively increasing circulation and reducing congestion in the upper respiratory tract, head and throat are the effects of this therapy.
Research by Benton Integrative Medicine states that this also has a sedative effect, and many paediatric patients have noticed that their sleep both during and after therapy has improved significantly.
Using wet socks to treat acute infections can help reduce discomfort and speed up the healing process.
Dr Gordon Roy, a paediatrician, advises that the wet sock treatment should be started on the first day of a sickness and repeated ideally three nights in a row.
Before beginning the wet sock treatment, parents of children with chronic diseases (long-term conditions that last more than six months) or immune system damage should speak to their doctor.
If you wish to give it a try, warm up your child's feet right before bedtime while placing cotton socks in icy water.
Put the socks on your sick child after wringing them out. Then, add a set of wool socks that are dry on top. Several TikTok mom-fluencers claim that if you put your kid to bed, they’ll have dry socks and feel better the next day.
Wet sock treatment is a 100% natural, drug-free technique to boost your child’s immune system and prevent the spread of colds and the flu, as shown by Naturopathic Paediatrics’ extensive research.
Many urban legends surround health and well-being. Some of these may sound strange, while others are well known for working.
Whatever the truth may be, there is one aspect of these beliefs that we tend to accept as gospel because parents are worried about their children's health in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, regardless of the facts.
Wet sock treatment has been described as a fascinating phenomenon that works miracles by thorough examinations and investigations, despite the ongoing controversy over whether it is a fiction or fact.
Dr Roy advises people with circulation difficulties, such as those associated with diabetes, Raynaud’s disease, or just having chilly feet, to be careful to constantly do the warming phase. If you have any questions before receiving therapy, speak with your doctor first, he suggests.