Your Guide To Preventing Cold Sore Again: A Functional Medicine Expert Explains

They can stay dormant for years until an opportunity to strike occurs. The great news is that there is so much you can do naturally to prevent cold sores. Here are my 21 top functional medicine tips to deal with those unsightly and painful cold sores:

To blast out cold sores, you need your immune system to be in tiptop shape. Being stressed out will do the opposite! Chronic stress will lower your immune system, allowing those creepy herpes viruses to reactivate and cause a cold sore flare-up. Cultivate consistent, meaningful practices of stillness in your life. Take this seriously. Yoga, tai-chi, hiking in nature, float tanks, and mindfulness meditation are some of my favorite ways to unwind.

Overdoing it in the sun can flare an attack1 for someone who has an underlying viral infection that's ready to be triggered. Find a nontoxic SPF lip balm though. The last thing your lips need is a chemical-laden toxic sunscreen. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is an awesome resource to find the right SPF.

Pump up your what? T-regulatory cells are super-important parts of your immune system. Think of them as the ultimate immune balancers. So how do you do it? Sipping on jasmine green tea and adding in some cinnamon are some of my top ways to calm inflammation and upregulate T-regs.

This amino acid is a proverbial atomic bomb against viruses2. I put many of my patients on 1,000 milligrams of lysine two to three times a day. Also focus on foods that are rich in L-lysine, such as wild-caught fish and organic poultry.

Just as you want to increase your L-lysine, work on decreasing the amino acid L-arginine3. This guy is needed for the replication of the herpes simplex virus, which is something we don't want. Avoid or limit foods rich in the amino acid arginine like beer, chocolate, cola, chicken soup, grains, nuts, and seeds.

If you don't know by now, I'm an adaptogen super fan. These botanical superheroes are great at modulating the brain-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is needed for an optimal immune system and healthy stress levels. Holy basil (tulsi), maca, and schisandra are some of my favorites in the adaptogen kingdom.

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is a lemon-scented member of the mint family. In a randomized, double-blind trial4 of 116 patients with herpes simplex cold sores, 96 percent reported complete clearing of lesions at day eight after using 1 percent balm extract cream five times a day. In another study4, lemon balm essential oil was placed on lesions within 72 hours of their cold sore symptoms and results showed that sores were significantly smaller and healed faster with the lemon balm treatment.

No, not the psychedelic kind. I'm talking about the safe, immune-boosting variety. These guys aren't hallucinogenic, but they're amazingly skilled at killing off viruses. Chaga and lion's mane are two of my favorite mushroom varieties.

Limiting sugar intake has to be of utmost priority for anyone with reoccurring infections like cold sores. Sugar will dampen your immune system and contribute to flare-ups. For a full guide to what sugars are the best and the worst, check out my guide. (Hint: It's probably not what you think!)

Vitamin C is so underrated; this powerful antioxidant is a potent immune-booster and antiviral. As far as supplements go, I'm a huge fan of lypo-spheric vitamin C. You can also eat vitamin-C-rich foods like citrus, kale, kiwi, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli.

Organic blueberries are an easy and delicious way to give your body some antiviral food medicine5. To mix it up, you can also add them to smoothies or a salad made with fennel—which contains strong antiviral compounds as well.

I love this herb. Skullcap is not only a virus fighter6; it's also very calming. When looking for herbal teas like this, make sure there are no added ingredients and avoid herbs from China, as they are known to generally have higher levels of toxins.

This super herb is another one of my top tools for combating viral infections like cold sores. Astragalus has been shown7 to have an inhibitory impact on the herpes simplex virus—and that sounds good to me.

A randomized clinical trial8 showed that a zinc-oxide-based cream was an effective tool for cold sores. Participants in the study who began treatment with zinc within 24 hours of their flare had a dramatically shorter cold sore duration compared to the placebo group. Wild-caught fish, mushrooms, grass-fed beef, organ meats like liver, turkey, and pasture-raised eggs are all zinc-rich foods to focus on.

Sprouts are super healthy in general, but my favorite has to be broccoli sprouts. This wonder food is rich in sulforaphane, which is essential for optimal methylation pathways and a healthy immune system! Add broccoli sprouts or any sprouts that float your boat to your salads, smoothies, or eat them plain. If you eat them plain you will feel like a goat, munching on grass, but you'll still get all the health benefits.

Coconut may have been vilified by the American Heart Association (and redeemed by us functional medicine doctors), but it still has great properties. Mix a tablespoon in smoothies or use directly on your lips.

In a study9 published in the medical journal Phytomedicine, this pleasant-smelling essential oil packed a mean punch against the herpes virus. After a few hours in the presence of peppermint, results showed a 99 percent death of the virus!

Tea tree oil, or melaleuca, is a powerful antiseptic10. Find a nontoxic lip balm with tea tree oil to kill that gnarly cold sore.

We need to stop seeing sleep as a luxury and start seeing it as the necessity that it truly is! Having a lousy night of sleep for just one night will spike your inflammation levels and lower your immune system. So imagine what happens with night after night of poor sleep. Put down the smartphone, TV remote, or any other electronic device, and get yourself to bed.

Want to boost your immune system to prepare for fall? You can start with your gut bacteria.