Understanding your cough and supporting your lungs.
Every winter, chest infections arrive. For some, this time of year may just make long term breathing troubles worse.
You might get a cold that moves down to the chest, generating mucus and a cough to bring it up.
Or your problem might be tightness and breathlessness that comes and goes or is there all the time.
Conventional medicine offers antibiotics or steroids or various inhalers.
Some are helpful, some like antibiotics only if there is a bacterial infection.
But what can we do to make the lungs themselves stronger?
About this Herb Hour
This is a recording with Simon Mills on managing chest infections naturally.
In this 60-minute class, Simon explains something most of us have never been taught:
Your lungs have an extraordinary self-cleaning system called the mucociliary escalator.
When you understand how it works, and how it can go wrong, everything about managing chest infections starts to make sense.
You’ll discover:
- How the mucociliary escalator works to keep your lungs clear
- The critical difference between wet and dry coughs, and why it matters
- Which plant remedies help when there’s too much mucus overwhelming the system
- Which remedies work when mucus has dried up and airways are irritated
- How to recognise whether your cough needs loosening or soothing
- Ways to clear out old infections and protect healthy lung tissue
- Why ancient medicine saw the lungs as the home of vital energy, and what that means for recovery
This isn’t guesswork or generic advice.
It’s about learning to read what your body is telling you, and responding with the right support.
Why this matters
Your lungs start as organs that tend to fill up. There’s no way out but back out the top.
So nature built the mucociliary escalator: a lining of cells with whip-like cilia that create constant upward waves, moving a sticky sheet of mucus up and out like moving flypaper.
Most of the time, you’re not even aware it’s happening. Dust and particles stick to the mucus, get carried back up to your throat, and swallowed for your stomach to deal with.
But this system can fail in two distinct ways.
Too much mucus following an infection can overwhelm the escalator. The lung moves into cough mode. You bring it up as a productive, wet cough. This is typical bronchitis.
Too little mucus means the airways dry up and become irritated. You get a dry, hacking cough. This is often asthma, but it can follow other conditions too.
Same organ. Opposite problems. Opposite remedies.
And here’s what most people don’t know: infections in the lungs have impacts on your wider health, often years later. Long-term infections can progressively damage the lungs themselves.
This isn’t just about getting rid of a cough. It’s about protecting your respiratory health for the long term.
What makes this different
You’ll get clear guidance on how to assess your own chest symptoms and choose the right approach.
Not generic “lung support.” Specific remedies based on what’s actually happening.
Simon Mills brings:
- Nearly five decades in practice as a medical herbalist
- A background as co-founder of the University of Exeter’s Centre for Complementary Health Studies
- Experience advising Government and the House of Lords on herbal medicine
- Textbooks that have become standard references for practitioners worldwide
His teaching connects ancient wisdom with modern understanding.
From the first breath to the last gasp, traditional medicine saw the lungs as the home of vital energies, critical to overall health. Many strengthening remedies and convalescent tonics were lung remedies.
We now know they were onto something. Lung health affects everything.
No fads. No overpromises. Just grounded, practical tools you can use at home.
Who this session is for
- People with lingering chest infections that won’t quite clear
- Anyone who gets bronchitis every winter
- Those with persistent coughs who want to understand what type they have
- Parents wanting natural ways to support children with chest infections
- People with asthma looking for complementary support alongside medical care
- Anyone recovering from pneumonia or covid lung complications
- Those wanting to strengthen their lungs after years of respiratory problems
It’s not for those expecting instant relief or unwilling to learn the difference between what lungs need when they’re too wet versus too dry.
What you’ll get
When you register for this live session, you’ll receive:
- Access to the 60-minute recording of the class
- A downloadable PDF of the slides
- Confidence that you’re learning from decades of clinical experience, not internet folklore
Price:
£14.95
About your tutor
Simon Mills has practised herbal medicine in Exeter since 1977.
He co-authored key herbal medicine texts still used worldwide, co-founded the UK’s first university centre for complementary health, and helped shape the country’s first integrated medical school curriculum.
He’s also advised both the Government and the House of Lords on herbal medicine policy.
His focus today is simple: helping ordinary people use plants to take care of themselves and their families.
Register now: £14.95
Chest infections will keep happening.
But understanding what’s going on in your lungs, and knowing which remedies actually match your symptoms, that changes everything.
👉 Register for the Chest Infections Herb Hour today.