OK, I’ll admit it’s a bit of a stretch calling bath oils and unguents remedies, but I have to say that these will make you feel a hell of a lot better if you’re under the weather. They’re a bit like posh versions of Vick’s Vaporub – except that you bathe in/with them – and the fact that you’re taking this particular dose of medicine with a big old steamy bath of water only serves to help the cause.

I haven’t currently got a cough or a cold, but I do have Mastitis (look it up, it’s gross) which comes with its own particular set of flu-like symptoms. The newly-discovered bath heroes pictured above have lifted my spirits and cleared my head…

Moa Fortifying Green Bath Potion: £27.50 at Cult Beauty. I had instant love for this potent little gem. The bottle looks like something you’d find in a Hogwarts classroom, the potion inside is powerful with fennel and mint and fir. The effects are instant and noticeable: it’s like a total mind-and-body-unblock.

Restorative Winter Clarifying Bath Oil: £30 from Not on the High Street. This actually calls itself a “cold and flu bath oil” so that’s good! And bloody hell is it powerful – you only need a sprinkling to make your entire house – neighbourhood – the world – smell reassuringly of eucalyptus and rosemary and peppermint. This stuff should be available on prescription.

Aromachologie Rebalancing Black Soap: £16 from l’Occitane. Not soap as you know it, but a kind of gelatinous cleansing paste with the most amazing, brain-clearing scent. A good option if you’re bathless; seal yourself into the shower, get the steam going and massage the black soap over your skin. Avoiding the more – er – sensitive bits. Designed to remove impurities and refine the skin, you’ll also find that the eucalyptus oil will do wonders for your bunged-up head.

And breathe.