Here’s why you should sleep with onions in your socks

The provable benefit to drinking onion water to feel better when you’ve got a cold is right there in the name. Anything you can do to up your fluid intake when you’re sick will help you feel better. Staying hydrated when sick will help keep mucus thinned down and moving and your mucus membranes moist. Like onions, these claims are best taken with a grain of salt. In addition to its purported cold and flu curing powers, onion water has also long been a staple among the bodybuilding crowd – legend has it that onion water can increase testosterone. A much-touted study suggests that rodents who consumed a LOT of onion water increased their testosterone by 300 percent; however no verification that this effect can be replicated in humans seems to exist.

Regular consumption of the organosulfur compounds found in onions and garlic may also prevent the development of cardiovascular disease, according to a 2010 review. Also, no studies have been done specifically to assess the benefit of putting onions in your socks or anywhere else on your body. While dozens of articles pasted all over the internet advocate the use of onions in your socks, they cite no experimental evidence. Similarly, the purported fever remedy goes back to the ancient Chinese medicinal practice of foot reflexology, where feet are deemed to be access points to internal organs.

The nerves in the feet have been a focal point of Eastern medicine for thousands of years and are thought to act as access points to the internal organs. In those days, it was thought that infections were spread by miasma, or poisonous, noxious air. The miasma theory has since been replaced with the evidenced-based germ theory. According to the folk remedy, if you come down with a cold or the flu, all you have to do is slice a red or white onion into rounds, place them on the bottoms of your feet, and put on a pair of socks.

To improve your odds, wash your hands, avoid contact with sick people, and consider getting a flu shot. Many studies have been done to assess the ancient Chinese practice of foot reflexology. A review of foot reflexology studies showed little evidence that foot reflexology is an effective practice for treating just how to remove stuck dentures about any medical condition. Some research also points to foot reflexology actually making infections worse. However, the overall quality of research studies on reflexology is generally very low. If you’re sick, onions are probably not a good substitute for cold meds, antibiotics, a well-balanced diet, and sleep.

It was believed that red onions had the ability to treat cold, fever and even Bubonic Plague. Back then, the infection was believed to spread through poisonous air – red onions with their pungent smell helped fight the infection. There is a vast amount of nerve endings in the soles of the feet, which serve as pathways to vital organs. According to traditional medicine, these connection points are called meridians.