Sore throat? Such a pain. Here are some top tips to help fight off the infection and feel better sooner.

• Try to get some regular fresh air and when indoors don't have the heating up too high.
• Stay hydrated with plenty of fluids (I blogged about this just the other day), a nice honey and lemon drink can soothe your throat.
• It's even more important to get your 5 fruit and vegetables a day with supplements such as Vitamin C and Zinc
• Gargling with salt water will help fight the infection
• Get some rest! Let your body concentrate it's energy on fighting the infection and getting back on the road to recovery
• Carefully choose what you treat your sore throat with, something to ease the soreness but equally something that won't dampen your body's reactions
• In 90-95% of cases the cause is a viral infection which cannot be cured by antibiotics, so treat the pain and ride out the storm
• Avoid food or drink that is too hot as this can increase your throat irritation
• Keep away from other people as much as you can to avoid picking up a secondary infection while your immune system is weakened

These handy pointers have been brought to you by me in collaboration with Ultra Chloraseptic aneasthetic throat spray along with Anna McLaughlin, Dr Mike Smith and Andrew McCombe.

Sophie