Productivity books love the founder who powers through. Catch a sore throat the week of a deadline and you're supposed to push through it like you're auditioning for a gritty reboot of Little House on the Prairie: Entrepreneur Edition.
The version of me running on four hours of sleep makes worse decisions and takes twice as long to make them. That's the whole case against pushing through.
So here's my list of natural remedies for the overworked. Fair warning before we start: none of this treats, prevents, or cures anything, and I'm not qualified to tell you otherwise. It's the short list of small comforts I reach for when I've been doing too much, which, let's be honest, is most days. If what you've got feels worse than tired, call an actual doctor. I'm a business owner with a kettle.
🎧 Listen to this post
Want to skip the story and jump straight to the "just-tell-me-what-to-do" part?
Skip the fluff, click below
✨ Jump to Strategy💛 The Overworked Entrepreneur's Guide to Feeling Human Again
Running a business, managing a family, juggling clients, keeping inboxes under control, remembering to blink. It's all a lot.
And when stress runs high, sleep runs low, and your body starts waving tiny white flags in the form of sinus pressure and mystery coughs, I want the gentle end of the shelf first, and I want it within arm's reach.
🍯 1. Honey and Tea
Honey in hot tea is the first thing I reach for when my throat goes scratchy, and I've never felt the need to defend that beyond saying it makes the next hour better. Lemon goes in because lemon belongs in there.
Pro tip: I buy local honey, mostly because I like buying local honey. Local honey supports local bees, local bees support the planet, and I am going to keep calling that activism.
🧂 2. Saltwater Gargling: The Gross Miracle
Gargling warm salt water is not glamorous and I have never once enjoyed it. I do it anyway, because it costs nothing and it works, which I resent. Gargle, rinse, pretend you're a pirate at sea, carry on.
🌬️ 3. Hot Shower and Steam: The Reset Button
Ten minutes in a hot shower is the closest thing I have to a reset button. My shoulders come down from my ears, and the day looks more manageable from inside the steam than it did from out here.
It's also the right moment for the universal sick-day mantra: "I will not check my email. I will not check my email. I will not, ok maybe just once."
🍋 4. Vitamin C and Echinacea (In My Cabinet, No Promises)
These live in my cabinet and I take them when I'm run down, the way a lot of people do. I can't tell you they do anything, and I'm not the person to ask. File this one under habits I keep. Results are above my pay grade.
💦 5. Hydration: The Most Annoying One Because It's the One I Skip
You knew this was coming, and you're still dehydrated. It's annoying precisely because it's free, obvious, and still the thing I forget until three in the afternoon, when I realize I've had two coffees, no water, and a case of the why-do-my-eyeballs-hurt.
🐝 6. Honey Sticks (If You're Fancy) or Plain Honey (If You're Normal)
The honey sticks live in my bag for the meetings where making tea isn't an option. They're portable, they're delicious, and they're small enough to hide from your children, which is the actual selling point.
🛀 7. Hot Bath: The Adult Time-Out
The shower is triage. The bath is a decision. Eucalyptus oil if I have it, lavender if I'm feeling ambitious, and twenty solid minutes of being unreachable, which is the part doing the heavy lifting.
💆 8. Chiropractic Adjustments (My Standing Appointment)
I see a chiropractor, and it's part of my regular rhythm rather than a sick-day rescue. I walk out feeling less like a twisted coat hanger and more like a person. What it does past that, I'll leave to people with medical degrees.
🍜 9. Chicken Soup: The GOAT of Sick-Day Foods
Grandma says chicken soup helps. In this household we take Grandma's word for it, and we don't ask the soup to do anything except be hot and salty and require zero decisions from me.
🚶 10. A Gentle, Slow Walk
Ten minutes around the block at a pace no fitness tracker would respect. The point is fresh air and the modest satisfaction of having done something with the day besides stare at my ceiling.
😴 11. Actual Rest (The Kind With Your Eyes Closed)
Scrolling is not resting. Working from bed is not resting. Watching TikTok wellness girlies organize their pantries is not resting.
Sleeping is resting. Try it. Your body will send you a thank-you note.
Take whichever of these fits your house and your budget, and start there. The work will keep until tomorrow, and you'll handle it better after some soup and a full night of sleep.
✨ Start With the Free Stuff
You've got this.
🛠️ Tools I Reach For When I'm Sick and Still Have Stuff to Do
- BrüMate or Stanley 40oz Tumbler, because hydration is easier when your cup is enormous
- Local honey, your throat's emotional support friend
- Hydrolyte or LMNT electrolytes, for the days I've clearly forgotten how water works
- Eucalyptus shower steamers, a mini spa moment
- A chiropractic pillow, because your neck deserves nice things
- A comfort soup bowl and spoon set, because aesthetics matter when you feel like a gremlin
(Some of the tools mentioned on our website may include affiliate links, which simply means we may earn a small commission, always at no extra cost to you. We only recommend things we truly love.)
🤖 How AI Helps When You're Sick and Still Responsible for Everything
- Ask it to sort your to-do list into Do Now, Do Later, and Delegate.
- Ask for an out-of-office autoresponder that sounds like you and not like a legal notice.
- Ask it to draft a gentle note to clients when you need twenty-four hours of grace.
- Have it build a grocery list for soup, tea, and things that are easy to eat.
- Hand it the three tasks you were dreading and see which ones it can get to eighty percent.
AI can't make you soup. It can keep the business from noticing you're horizontal. The version that works best is AI plus a person who knows your business, where the AI drafts fast and the human catches what it got wrong. On your worst day you want both.
The UnOffice Community is free to join, and the library inside it holds guides, Notion templates, and AI walkthroughs, including the ones I lean on when I'm running at half speed and the work still has to move. Come take whatever's useful.
Join Us in the Community🗂️ The Short Version: Natural Remedies for the Overworked
When you feel run down, do this:
- Hydrate first
- Honey and lemon tea
- Hot shower or steam
- Simple comfort food (chicken soup, obviously)
- Rest, for real
Originally published May 2017. Last updated August 2026.
Before you go…
💬 What's your go-to remedy when your body is over it?
Drop it in the UnOffice Community. Your tip might save another exhausted business owner on a rough week.
