Every fall and winter, everyone seems to brace themselves for the inevitable cycle of colds, flu, and other seasonal viruses tearing through classrooms and households alike, especially as we head into the busy holiday season. Once one person becomes sick—especially a child still learning to blow their own nose and in need of a comforting cuddle—it’s almost impossible to contain.

The good news? You can begin to break the cycle, suggests Meghan Beach Martin, MD, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. In a recent Instagram post, the doctor known online as @Dr.Beachgem10 shared a “simple way to decrease the amount of time that your kids are sick, decrease the amount of medications that you have to give to them, and decrease the amount of people that they get sick in your home.”

Citing a 2024 study published in the European Respiratory Journal, Dr. Martin recommends using a high-concentration nasal saline solution—which she notes is usually called “extra strength” in over-the-counter products—as part of your child’s treatment. 

“This recent publication shows that giving kids hypertonic saline—which is saltwater in their nose—a few times a day for about five days can decrease the amount of time they’re sick by about two days, and decrease the number of people in the home that they get sick,” says the doctor and mom of four. 

A text caption in Dr. Martin’s video also provides a critical reminder: “Never put tap water in your nose! Use distilled or boiled and cooled water. No one likes brain amoebas.” Cleveland Clinic experts agree, saying: “Don’t use tap water for a neti pot or any other device that cleans your nasal passages.”

The study looked at data from 407 children ages six and under, about 301 of whom ended up getting sick with an upper respiratory virus over the course of the study period. While half of the children received “usual care,” the other half received three drops of hypertonic saline solution on each side of the nose, four times a day for a total of five days. 

The children who received the saline solution got better after about six days, while the kids in the control group got better after about eight days. Additionally, 46% of children who were given saline passed their illness on to at least one family member, while a higher 58% of the control group got someone else sick—“so it did decrease sickness in the household,” says Dr. Martin. Though she notes that only children under a certain age were included in that particular study, she says there “is some evidence it works in adults as well.”

“The cells on the inside of your nose use chloride to make something called hypochlorous acid, which helps defend against viral infection and potentially help clear that infection faster,” explains Dr. Martin.  “Additionally, saline also helps with nasal congestion, which helps you feel better.”

The pediatrician notes that what the researchers used is “different from normal saline,” given its higher concentration of salt. Most available over-the-counter saline nasal sprays contain 0.9% sodium chloride, but the study’s researchers used a concentration of 2.6%. Concentrations of up to 3% are typically available without a prescription, though some experts advise caution. 

The Cleveland Clinic offers a recommendation: “To be on the safe side, talk to a healthcare provider before making or using saline solution. They’ll make sure saline will help in your specific situation and advise you on making versus buying.”

Still, the treatment may offer families new hope this cold and flu season: “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,” Dr. Martin says.

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Lauren Gray
Lauren has a decade of experience covering health and wellness for SELF Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Yahoo! News, MSN, Best Life, and more. For three years she led the writing center at Woodstock School, one of the oldest international boarding schools in India.  Lauren is a young adult breast cancer survivor who now centers her personal life aro...
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Lauren Gray